As Apple prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary on April 1, 2026, collectors are gearing up for a landmark auction featuring some of the company’s most iconic artifacts, including personal items belonging to co-founder Steve Jobs.
The auction, organized by RR Auctions and titled “Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction,” will present nearly 200 items from Apple’s early years and Jobs’ private collection. Interest in the sale has already surged, with many lots exceeding their pre-auction estimates.
Among the highlights is Apple Check No. 1, dated March 16, 1976, signed by both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and issued to Howard Cantin, designer of the Apple-1 circuit board. Graded PSA Mint 9, the check predates Apple’s official founding and carries a pre-auction estimate of $500,000. Bidding has already reached $236,832.
Another key item is Check No. 181, issued to Apple’s first seed investor, Elmer Baum, for $125. The loan Baum provided was instrumental in financing the Apple-1, and Jobs later acknowledged, “Without that, we wouldn’t have made it.”
The auction also includes Apple’s first financial record, a Wells Fargo statement from March 1976 showing initial deposits and the first six checks written, with current bids at $17,717, and the Apple-1 computer prototype, the earliest known fiberglass model, with bids currently at $135,000 against a $500,000 estimate.
One of the most personal items is Steve Jobs’ bedroom desk from the Apple Garage, which features Atari papers, HP manuals, and Jobs’ 1971 wage statement. The desk, from the collection of Jobs’ stepbrother John Chovanec, has already surpassed its $25,000 estimate with bids at $59,268.
Additional memorabilia includes Jobs’ personal 8-track tapes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, early Apple posters, and bow ties from his childhood home.
The auction offers collectors a rare opportunity to own pieces of Apple history and gain insight into the early life and legacy of one of the tech world’s most legendary innovators.
INDIA TIMES