It seems Steve Job’s signature is worth more than meets the eye.
A 1988 floppy disk with the Apple co-founders autograph across the front in black felt ink sold for a whopping $84,000 at auction.
The disk contains Macintosh System Tools 6.0 software and was originally estimated to have a value of $7,500 – less than 10 percent of the final sale.
The floppy disk went on sale at the RR Auction with a minimum bid of $1,000.
‘Macintosh System Tools Version 6.0 floppy disk, signed in black felt tip, ‘Steve jobs.’ In fine condition, with slight brushing to the ink,’ reads the site’s description.
‘A hugely desirable format for Jobs’s seldom-seen autograph—known as a reluctant signer, he often declined to comply with the requests of collectors.’
‘As a piece of Apple’s iconic Mac OS software, boasting Jobs’s elegantly stylish lowercase signature, this is a museum-quality piece of computing history.’
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A 1988 floppy disk with the Apple co-founders autograph across it sold for a whopping $84,000 at auction. The disk contains Macintosh System Tools 6.0 software and was originally estimated to have a value of $7,500 – less than 10 percent of the final sale
RR originally estimated the disk’s value to be $7,500, which is less than 10 percent of what it actually sold for.
Another retro Apple product was auctioned off four days ago and raked in a pretty penny as well.
It was an original Apple Macintosh, which is one of two only surviving prototypes that sold for $150,075 with the buyer’s premium.
The machine features the aborted 5.25-inch ‘Twiggy’ disk drive, and is going under the hammer at Bonhams in New York on Wednesday.
The Macintosh began as a personal project of inventor Jef Raskin before the late Apple founder Steve Jobs took it over.
The floppy disk went on sale at the RR Auction with a minimum bid of $1,000. ‘Macintosh System Tools Version 6.0 floppy disk, signed in black felt tip, ‘Steve jobs.’ In fine condition, with slight brushing to the ink,’ reads the site’s description
Another retro Apple product was auctioned off four days ago and raked in a pretty penny as well. It was an original Apple Macintosh, which is one of two only surviving prototypes that sold for $150,075 with the buyer’s premium
The original plan was to use a 5.25-inch drive to greatly expand the capacity of standard floppy discs.
But they proved unreliable, so a 3.5 inch drive, which was more robust and small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, was chosen instead for mass production.
Jobs reportedly had all the existing ‘Twiggy’ prototypes destroyed after the launch of the Mac a year later, but two are known to remain.
The prototype that goes to auction this week had been in the possession of a former executive of a software company that had worked on the early MacWrite word processing application in the 1980s.
Adam Stackhouse, specialist at Bonhams in New York, said: ‘This is a hugely important and significant machine from the beginning of the age of computing.’
The Macintosh, which was launched amid much fanfare with a Ridley Scott-directed 1984 Superbowl advert, was Apple’s first commercial PC with an in-built screen and mouse.
It came with the applications MacWrite and MacPaint graphics editor — which were hugely important to the popularity of early Apple computers — and initially sold for $2,495
It came with the applications MacWrite and MacPaint graphics editor — which were hugely important to the popularity of early Apple computers — and initially sold for $2,495.
By May 1984, the Macintosh had sold 70,000 units, but the limitations of the first Mac soon became clear and it became a hard-sell for the company.
The product was discontinued a year later before Jobs left Apple and the company went on to release an almost identical follow-up.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said of the original Mac: ‘There are occasionally short windows in time when incredibly important things get invented that shape the lives of humans for hundreds of years.
‘The development of the Macintosh computer was one of these events, and it has changed our lives forever.
‘Every computer today is basically a Macintosh, a very different type of computer from those that preceded it.’
1976: Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne created the company on April 1 1976 as they set about selling computer kits to hobbyists, each of which was built by Wozniak.
The first product was the Apple I.
1977: Apple released the Apple II in June, which was the first PC for the mass market.
1981: Jobs became chairman.
The company’s journey to the summit of the technology industry has been a rocky one, having seen Jobs (pictured right in 1976) leave the firm in the mid-1980s after his pet project, the first Macintosh computer, struggled and he attempted to oust then chief executive John Sculley. Wozniak is pictured left
1984: The Macintosh was introduced during an ad break for the Super Bowl and later officially unveiled during a launch event. It was discontinued a year later and Jobs left the firm.
1987: Apple released the Macintosh II, the first color Mac.
1997: After failing to sell many NeXT PCs, Jobs eventually returned to Apple as interim CEO. He officially took the role in 2000.
2001: Apple introduced iTunes, OS X and the first-generation iPod.
The first iPod MP3 music player was released on October 23, 2001, at an event in Cupertino and was able to hold up to 1,000 songs.
2007: Apple unveils the iPhone.
2010: The first iPad was unveiled.
2011: Jobs resigned in 2011 due to illness, handing the CEO title to Tim Cook. Job died in October from pancreatic cancer.
2014: Apple unveiled the Apple Watch. It also unveiled its first larger iPhones – the 6 and 6 Plus.
2015: After purchasing Beats from Dr Dre, Apple launched Apple Music to compete with Spotify and other music streaming services.
2016: Apple is embroiled in a legal battle with the FBI regarding access to a phone used in the San Bernardino terror attack.
Apple also launched its AirPods, a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones.
2018: The company released its first smart speaker, the HomePod, powered by its digital assistant Siri.
2019: In January, Apple posted its first decline in revenues and profits for over a decade.
