[vcf-midatlantic] Apparently Authentic Apple 1 on eBay

[Corey Cohen]

To put it in plain terms, the Apple-1 has become a piece of art.  It is collected in the art world just like Baseball cards and Comic Books.   Sure I can read a PDF or buy a reprint Action Comics #1 for a couple of grand.  Heck I can even buy and original one in very poor condition for about the cost of a new Mercedes.  However if I want a mint condition one, I better be ready to pay 3 million bucks.    The collectors of these comics may not have even been alive when it was printed, but to them it's the history and artistic value of the piece and the better the condition or the better the provenance, the more desirable.     

To put it in baseball card terms.  This is Apple's rookie card.  Most were modified, damaged or destroyed (we all messed up some valuable baseball cards in the spokes of our bicycles as kids or they got destroyed by the laundry) so pristine examples are rare and units in poor condition are less rare but still valuable because so few have survived.  

Cheers,
Corey

corey cohen
uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ

On Jun 5, 2016, at 10:04 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

>> I never did understand why the A-1 commands the prices that it does.
>> There are much rarer machines, and much as I do revere Woz, a non-unique
>> home computer shouldn't command over $100k, IMO.
> 
> For the high-end buyers it's about the bragging rights and what the artifact represents. Most of them couldn't care less about technical aspects of the computer.