Link to CNN article here.
I am aware of all this - i.e., that early computers are avidly collected; that Apples are especially desired, etc. It still bakes my noodle to step back and contemplate stuff like this - to think of an Apple 1 as “rare” like it is a Faberge Egg or something. Back in the day, growing up just above Palo Alto in Redwood City, they were interesting gadgets…
I wonder what first-gen iPods, iPhones, etc. will end up selling for assuming they become collectible?
The difference is that the Apple I was made in scarcely more than prototype quantities, with only 50 or so known to exist of the 200 that were made. A better comparison would be for how much a pre-production prototype of the first-gen iPod might sell for as they’ve sold about 300 million iPods since the product was introduced in 2001.
Two weeks ago, someone sold a first-gen iPod on eBay for $400, which is one dollar more than it sold for in 2001, making it a poor investment.
They should have waited 20 more years before selling it, then it might be as valuable as an Apple I today, although it still isn’t quite the same thing (plus you would have to get a new battery for it, the hard drive might not like the long-term storage either, either from lubrication drying out or magnetic “bit rot”).