The first wooden model of Apple computer to be auctioned in California

The wooden Apple-1, the first computer model ever marketed by the apple company since 1976, was auctioned Tuesday in Southern California and could fetch more than $1 million.

The company founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built a total of just 200 Apple-1s, all assembled by hand at Jobs, most of which were sold at the time for $666.66.

The value of the copy offered at auction at the auction house John Moran in Monrovia, near Los Angeles, is estimated at 400 thousand to 600 thousand dollars, but it can be sold more than that, according to specialists.

The working Apple-1 was sold for more than $900,000 in 2014 by Bonhams.

According to expert Cory Cohen, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, 60 Apple-1s have been identified so far, but only 20 of them, including those sold by John Moran’s home, are still in service.

The copy is more original because it has an exotic wooden case, the koa, native to the Hawaiian Islands, a rarity that has earned it a place in a sale dedicated to contemporary art and design.

There are only six known examples of Apple-1 with koa dwellings, according to John Moran’s home catalog.

In 1976, Apple-1s were among the first models of personal computers that were already assembled (with components already soldered to the motherboard in particular), but were often sold without a case or keyboard.

The copy, which was bought by a professor at Chaffee College at the time, and went on sale Tuesday, “is a bit like the holy grail of collectors of vintage electronics and computers,” assures Corey Cohen.

This professor sold it in 1977 to one of his students, who has kept it to this day and has chosen to remain anonymous.