Historic Apple items go on auction

Apple products are always in demand, but right now three items from its past are particularly hot.

A prototype of the first-generation iPad was sold on EBay for $10,200 Monday. The prototype is described as having 16GB of memory and two dock connectors -- one of them on the device’s side.

“Apple prototyped these iPads to have this connector late in the process and at the last minute decided to remove them,” the item’s description says. “There are patent drawings and leaked casings that show the indents for both dock connector holes, but this unit has both dock connectors.”

The early iPad model doesn’t run iOS but rather Switchboard, which is a software used by Apple to test device functionality. The item, which was purchased by an anonymous bidder, was refurbished by the seller and fully works except for its touch screen, “which may or may not be able to be fixed.”

And though the iPad prototype may only be good for bragging, another Apple item set to go up for auction on June 15 does work. That’s an Apple-1 personal computer; only 200 were made, only 50 are left, and only six -- including this one -- still work.

The item, hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, is one of the original computers that launched Apple, and is expected to sell for $120,000 to $180,000.

The Apple-1, which went on sale in 1976 for $666.66, came with their circuit boards assembled but did not include a case, power supply, keyboard or monitor. And as ComputerWorld notes, several Apple-1 units used handcrafted wooden cases.

At the same auction, being held by Sotheby’s, a four-page memo written by Steve Jobs during his time at Atari in 1974 will also go on sale and is expected to fetch between $10,000 and $15,000.

The memo describes how to improve the “functionality and fun” of an arcade game called World Cup. The memo includes a handwritten page as well as three circuit diagrams drawn in pencil by Jobs.

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