In case Microsoft security was unsure what Bill Gates looked like, the company CEO carried an employee ID card just like everyone else.
Now, one is coming to auction via RR Auctions.
The ID card, which labels Gates as an “Employee,” was printed around 1995 as part of Microsoft’s initiative to upgrade security and include RFID chips for more efficient “badge-in/out” access.
Consigned by the man who printed the card for Gates while working in security on the Microsoft campus, he would print out a second copy of the badge to increase the quality before giving to Gates. The consignor opted to preserve the unprogramed badge as a “keepsake” rather than follow protocol and throw the first copy out.
The lot description notes it is likely the only such example from that era of comparable condition.
Though similar items capable of attracting high results are typically associated with Steve Jobs, his fellow tech visionary Gates has shown to be collectible in his own right.
RR Auctions has previously sold an early 1978 Gates letter for $75,821, a Gates personally-used TRS-80 Model 100 computer with an autograph note for $25,000 and a Gates business card for $7,366.
A dollar bill signed by both Gates and Warren Buffett sold for $2,701 in 2014.
Other ID cards of prominent figures have fetched large sum in the past at auction, such as a Department of Defense ID belonging to Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $37,500 in September 2022, and President John F. Kennedy’s signed Senate ID, which sold for $20,017 in May 2017.
The Gates ID has a current bid of $1,685 and an estimate of $6,000.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.