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Why Woz isn’t surprised people will pay more than $500,000 for an ancient Apple-1

Published Nov 24th, 2014 10:15PM EST
Apple Co-Founders Interview

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Apple’s oldest artifacts have become some of the most coveted technological relics in the world, but the company’s two remaining co-founders haven’t reached a consensus on whether or not they’re surprised by the rabid attention surrounding each and every auction that springs up.

READ MORE: The most hilariously named ex-Apple employee is auctioning off his old business card

“It doesn’t seem that unusual at all,” Steve Wozniak said in an interview with Computerworld last week. “It’s the largest brand in the world, so many people know Apple, and the Apple-1 is so rare. But it’s also because the world’s changed since Apple was started.”

The third (and significantly less well-known) Apple co-founder, Ron Wayne, has a different perspective.

“I’m just amazed, to be perfectly candid,” he said. “I just played a small part [in Apple]. It’s all about Steve Wozniak creating this product.”

Over the last several years, Apple’s original computers have become some of the most sought-after items in the tech world. Several Apple-1 computers have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the company’s founding contract sold for a whopping $1.6 million in 2011.

Christie’s is planning to auction off Wayne’s collection of documents from his short tenure at Apple, a collection called the “Ron Wayne Apple Archive.” Christie’s is valuing the collection between $30,000 and $50,000. Bidding will begin on December 11th. When asked about the early days of Apple, Wayne’s response was short and sweet:

“I knew it was special,” added Wayne. “We were all motivated knowing that we were doing things with our lives.”

For more on Wozniak and Wayne, be sure to check out the full interview in the source link.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.