Second check ever issued by Apple, signed by Steves Jobs and Wozniak, is being auctioned off
We've seen an unopened 4GB iPhone from 2007 get auctioned off for more than $158,000. Over 10 years ago, an Apple 1 computer fetched $630,000 in an auction. We've seen a pair of Apple-branded sneakers made for employees receive a winning $10,000 bid in another auction, and a magazine cover featuring Steve Jobs and signed by him was sold to a high bidder. Apple-related memorabilia is certainly considered a specialty collectible. There are some people who collect Coca-Cola-branded objects, too.
One of the latest pieces of Apple memorabilia to go before bidders is unique. RR Auctions (via 9to5Mac) is auctioning off the second check ever issued by Apple and it is signed by both Steve Wozniak and the late Steve Jobs. The check was made out to a company that Apple bought printed circuit boards (PCBs) from called Ramlor, Inc. Since it was a temporary check, there is no mention of the Apple brand but it does have the signatures of the two Steves on the financial document.
The second check issued by Apple, signed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, is being auctioned off
The company bylaws required any check for more than $100 to be signed by two of the three partners. At the time, Jobs and Wozniak each owned 45% of the company and Ronald Wayne was a 10% owner. They visited The Byte Shop in Mountain View, California, and tried to sell their computer kit to owner Paul Terrell. The auction listing contains the rest of the story:
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"Terrell offered to buy 50 of the computers-at a wholesale price of $500 a piece, to retail at $666.66—but only if they came fully assembled. With this request, Terrell aimed to elevate the computer from the domain of the enthusiast to the realm of the mainstream consumer. Wozniak later placed Terrell's purchase order in perspective: 'That was the biggest single episode in all of the company's history. Nothing in subsequent years was so great and so unexpected.'"
As RR notes, "This is an extraordinary, museum-quality piece of tech history." The auction ends on August 24 and the current bid is $55,527.
RR Auction has a ton of Apple memorabilia you can bid on including a handwritten draft made by Steve Jobs for an Apple I advertisement (current high bid $17,270), Jobs' business cards when he was president of NeXT and chairman and CEO of Pixar (current high bids $533, $666 respectively), a fully operational Apple 1 in a homemade case signed by Wozniak (current high bid $83,417), a sealed unopened 8GB 2007 iPhone (top bid is currently $27,815), and more. All of the Apple-related lots go off the board on August 24th.
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