“Enclosed is your first Apple Computer.”
Steve Jobs sent a letter to a Bay Area retailer providing instructions on selling the Apple 1 — the first Apple computer ever created.
Dated November 1976, just four months after the fledgling company released its inaugural Apple product, the letter represents one of the earliest Jobs-signed Apple items other than company checks. It’s among the multiple pieces of Silicon Valley history included in Christie’s upcoming sale of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s extensive collection, assigned a pre-sale estimate of $50,000 to $80,000.
Also in the September sale is an Apple 1 computer from Steve Jobs' desk, which carries an estimate of $500,000 to $800,000.
RELATED STORIES:
- Steve Jobs memorabilia soars to record heights
- Sealed iPhones setting sales records, but not all are as advertised
- Steve Jobs-signed employee service award to sell at auction
Only 200 Apple 1s were built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, famously priced at $666.66 a piece (Woz denies any satanic meaning, explaining he simply enjoys repeating decimals). In recent years, the scarce number of surviving Apple 1s have become exceptionally desirable collectors items. With only around 70 verified by the Apple 1 registry, top examples have sold for as much as $905,000 in 2014, though in today’s market, most sell for between $200,000 and $350,000 for non-prototype examples.
The letter includes advice for the retailer to make copies of additional software, including games and the Apple dis-assembler, to give away for free to customers.
Not only does the letter include coveted Jobs signatures, but hand-written corrections and annotations litter the pages. The most notable of which is Jobs’ apology for forgetting to enclose the letter with the computer: "Ed- I forgot to include this with the computer. sorry, steve."
At the time Jobs wrote the letter, he was just 21 years old, though the Christie’s lot description says he was 19.
Jobs autographs and signed documents have broken records in recent years in large part due to their extreme scarcity — Jobs was famously a reticent signer. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay made headlines in 2021, when he purchased an Apple II manual inscribed by Jobs, with the words "Go Change The World!" for $787,484.
In May, a Jobs-signed business card and check sold for $181,183 and $176,850, respectively — both records in their respective item categories.
His most viral letter — now a staple of social media engagement accounts — in which he replies to a request for an autograph writing "I'm afraid I don't sign autographs,” only to include his signature at the bottom, sold for $479,939 in 2021 at RR Auctions.