A rare Steve Jobs-autographed Apple Computer business card from around 1983 is set to sell at RR Auctions, with a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 and up.
Graded PSA/DNA 10, it’s one of a handful signed Jobs Apple business cards known to exist.
One of the others, also signed and graded a PSA 10 from the same era, set a record when it sold for $181,183 in March 2024.
Jobs autographs of any kind are exceptionally rare. A famous letter, in which he replied “I’m afraid I don’t sign autographs” to a fan seeking a signature before signing his name below, sold for $479,939 in 2021.
A precious few autographs — meant as mementos and not merely signatures on checks or documents — exist as Jobs was a notoriously difficult signer.
The rarity and resulting value of his autograph is demonstrated perfectly by the nearly $15,000 paid for a ticket stub to Pirates of the Caribbean, which he signed for a fellow-movie goer in the theater.
RR, which is the leading auction house for Steve Jobs memorabilia, has sold 15 Jobs business cards in its history, four of which were from the same time period, and only one — the record-setting example — was signed.
Even unsigned Jobs Apple business cards have become expensive collectibles, with one dating to the early 1980s selling for $15,344 last year. A Jobs Pixar business card, exhibiting handwritten contact information (“Steve_Jobs@NeXT.com), sold for $13,289 in 2022 despite lacking his autograph.
Jobs’ business cards and autographs are, by far, the most valuable, though other business titans have had some major sales in recent years, such as a Bill Gates Microsoft card that sold for $7,366 in 2020 or an Elon Musk SpaceX card for less than $40,000 last year.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.