Apple-1 Prototype Board #0, “Celebration,” Simply Modified Fingers for $2,750,000

This single circuit board represents the primary fiberglass model of the Apple-1, which Jobs and Wozniak assembled within the spring of 1976, earlier than shifting the primary buyer variations out of the storage. Jobs and Wozniak wished to indicate their improved design labored appropriately on fiberglass, since an earlier, cheaper model constituted of a low-cost composite had proven critical flaws.

The engineers labored on fixing the unique board’s flaws, reminiscent of format and timing issues. This ‘Celebration’ board was used as validation to be sure that all of the fixes had been carried out earlier than it was put in a manufacturing surroundings. The reality is that if it didn’t cross with flying colours, Paul Terrell’s fifty boards for his Byte Store wouldn’t have been delivered, and Apple would have been caught from the very starting.

Consultants have recognized various peculiarities that make this board totally different from the 200 or so manufacturing Apple-1 computer systems. Wave soldering was used on this board with Robinson-Nugent sockets reasonably than the Texas Devices ones that had been used later. The elements on this board had been those who occurred to be obtainable reasonably than those who had been particularly bought in amount as was accomplished later. Two Sprague 39D capacitors, being customary elements that occurred to be obtainable domestically in a close-by radio store, ended up in positions the place the manufacturing boards used quite a lot of totally different elements. A smaller heatsink was used over the voltage regulators, and there was no indication that the bigger one was ever fitted. A modification to the 74123 timing circuit to accommodate the adjustments to the DRAM refresh that they needed to make to take care of these early reliability points. This can be a transitional piece that was by no means meant to be bought; its goal was to get from the prototype to the ultimate product.

In reality, Corey Cohen, an Apple historian and restore specialist, has carefully examined this board in 2016, and in late 2025, he up to date his observations on it. Based on him, it’s a pre-production board, predating the Byte Store run, and it has been assigned a quantity, 75, within the Apple-1 Registry. There, it has been given the nickname ‘Celebration.’ The lot contains many extra objects than simply this board, reminiscent of a Key Tronic keyboard, which is unique to 1977, in addition to an influence provide and a Sony TV monitor. To spherical out the bundle, Wozniak autographed a reproduction operation guide and a schematic in blue felt-tip. Cosmetically, it falls someplace between 6.5 and seven.0, even if the board was by no means powered up for full testing.

When the hammer fell at on January 29, 2026, bidding blew the anticipated worth of $500,000 out of the water, leading to a closing worth of $2,750,000 as soon as all purchaser’s premiums had been factored in. It was a part of RR Public sale’s Steve Jobs & the Pc Revolution occasion, which was conveniently scheduled to coincide with Apple’s fiftieth birthday. A few of the different objects within the public sale generated comparable ranges of curiosity, together with the primary cheque Apple ever acquired in 1976, which helped enhance general gross sales to a formidable $8 million.