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Apple 1 and other early items on eBay

Well, at least I have that exact same cassette recorder as in the Apple 1 auction picture..

-Tor
 
It looks like eBay's max selling price fee is $750. It's insignificant compared to what a high end auction house would get (about 30% of published selling price). However those auction houses do world wide marketing, which, in the past, has made a huge difference in selling price. The highest ebay sale of an Apple 1, that I can find was $75,600, about 10% of what has been realized by the high end auction houses.


regards,
Mike W.
 
Wow. Good thing I don't have $800k.

I don't know though.. I think I'm over the Apple I. I'd live in terror of it quitting on me, so I'd never use it. And after the euphoria wore off of having one, it'd be just another old piece of equipment. I think the replica guys have way more fun. There is real joy to be had in retracing Woz's steps.

Interested to see how that A2 does though. I'd really like to trade up from my Rev 4 to a Rev 0.
 
There are Apple 1 boards made for users out there much cheaper then an original if you want something to play with. The originals are destined to be behind plexiglass on a wall somewhere for show.

I see the Apple I as collectable art which an old fashioned auction house that caters to very rich older people would be a better choice. Sure the fees are more but so is the final price (same reason ebay is the best place to sell old collectable computers compared to anywhere else).
 
Looks like the Apple I went for about $236k and the II went for around $7k

I can see why (although I would never bother) people would spend ludicrous money on the Apple I. Spending $7k on an Apple II which has a sort of 'low' serial number that has a broken power indicator and has not been tested is pretty extreme.
 
Not sure how the cut works when its a partial charity auction - but safe to say it wont be zero.

At that price I would hope shipping is free :)
 
How do you "ship" something with a quarter million dollar value? From a quick look at UPS rates it looks like the maximum declared value is $50,000 and the insurance at that value would be $450, and FedEx might be similar. Probably something you go pick up in person or deal with some sort of specialty courier service to pick up and deliver.
 
There is no way I would trust any postage service with that sort of thing. As you said there are specialised freight companies; but my estimate of $100 might be a little on the short side.
 
I imagine letting my insurer hire a proxy. but I may never be in a position to find out.
 
Shipping high value items is pretty easy. You use a commerical shipping service. There are many types. I have seen Apple-1 systems ship all over the world this way.

As for the sale price. It was a good deal for this board, but about what eBay would get for it. If the same board went to an auction house with promotion and everything else involved including the larger more financed customer base, this board would have gotten about 3 times what it got on eBay. However it would have taken about 2-3 years to sell as it would have had to wait for an open slot in the right auction. The fees would have also been much higher. With eBay I was contacted by the owner about a week before the auction was to begin to give me a heads up. Pretty short notice. So in the end he did well for that time frame, knowing how long he actually had the board and what was paid.

The Rev-0 Apple II surprised me. The condition wasn't great and it was missing a key part and is untested. But the powersupply is a toggle type. That may have contributed, or the Rev-0 market is picking up.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Corey, you always do great work - I'm sure the new owner will be very pleased with it.

And... I still want that pennywhistle you stole out from under me when I wasn't looking at ebay closely enough a few years ago. ;)
 
Well a lot of people want that pennywhistle modem. It's still a useable item in today's day and age since it was also intended as a generic audio cassette adapter. That is why it has the jacks on the front. So if you have a vintage machine and don't want to use paper tape, you can use a pennywhistle modem and an audio source.

Mine is hooked up to the Scelbi 8h. Maybe when I build the scelbi 8b replica with cassette adapter, I might be tempted to part with the pennywhistle. Then again maybe not... LOL

Cheers,
Corey
 
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