The Apple-1 Registry

Museum's website

Nexon Museum

Website(s)

Auction at Sotheby's

Description

The nickname of this Apple-1 was changed to “Cooper” because no earlier owner is known by name.
Rework connected the PIA to the proto area with a multi-color ribbon cable.
According to the 2010 auction text, the motherboard was modified by Steve Wozniak to add an interface for a potentiometer and two tape connections. The potentiometer was used as a paddle. The seller assumed that it was used for the game Breakout.

History

Sold on eBay as auction 320585219846 on September 10, 2010, for US$22,766.66. The seller was an avid vintage computer collector from Chicago, USA, and the auction received 23 bids.
Fortunately, the original auction text has been preserved. See Remarks.
This Apple-1 was owned by Cameron Cooper, who also owned #48.
It was restored to operational condition and auctioned by Sotheby’s for US$374,500 on June 15, 2012.
The buyer was from South Korea. This Apple-1 is now on display at the Nexon Computer Museum.

Auctions

Sept, 2010, June 2012
(see History for more information)

Components

White ceramic MOS MCS 6502 CPU (3776), plastic AMI S6820 PIA (7544), 8 KB plastic DRAM MK4096N-11 (7635). 5 yellow capacitors. 3 big blue capacitors.

Equipment

Original Apple Cassette Interface, Cassette Interface Manual, white Operation Manual, Preliminary BASIC Manual, Apple-1 advertisement, keyboard, cassette recorder, power supply, TV screen, 3 cassettes.

State

Very good. One empty socket at the proto area was removed. Pictures from the eBay auction in 2010 show that the PIA was replaced and some modifications in the video area were removed.

Remarks

The original despriction of the 2010 eBay auction:
I am an avid collector of vintage computers. In fact, I have over 5000'examples' in multiple storage facilities. Honestly, it kind of drives my wife nuts, and I don't have the time or energy to devote to the hobby so I'm in the process of downsizing my collection. I'm now moving from "quantity", acquiring every part for a given manufacturer to focusing only on museum quality very old computers. I'm currently working on an IBM 701 mainframe, and a Williams tube. If you happen to have an examples, or parts for these, please let me know.

I am the second owner of this Apple 1 computer. The original owner purchased this unit from the Byte shop in the summer of 1976. I already possessed an apple 1 computer, but this one was significantly more interesting to me. The one I owned was flaky, and had been heavily modified by it's previous owner (several failed breadboard experiments....). This one was extremely clean, had a full set of original documentation, and had a motherboard modification made by Steve Wozniak to add an interface for a potentiometer, and two tapes (one Apple Basic, and one was an experiment for the potentiometer). A potentiometer is just a fancy way of saying "paddle", and was the primary input device for most video games of the day. When I saw the tape experiment, it was clear to me this was an attempt to play the game "breakout" with a paddle, using the ASCII character set instead of graphical bricks. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's first work together was creating the motherboard for Atari's Breakout arcade game. In fact, the successor, the Apple II had this potentiometer mod (now called a joystick port) built in, and shipped with the game "breakout".

This auction comes with the following items
1) Original Apple 1 motherboard (single board computer)
This is an original unmodified motherboard hand wired and soldered by Steve Wozniak. Based upon the NTI logo on motherboard, and the capacitors, I believe this is from the second batch of computers Woz made (#14-24). Motherboard Includes the (in)famous white 6502 CPU, the original 4k of memory, and the 4k "upgrade" for a total of 8k RAM installed. I have not applied electricity to the motherboard in well over ten years, and do not intend to for this auction. Thus, you should assume this is an auction for a museum quality historical artifact, not a working computer.

2) Original Apple 1 cassette interface
The cassette interface was the only other "option" available to purchase beyond the 4k memory option at the time the motherboard was sold. The interface is unmodified since it's original purchase. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the two cassette tapes I know I own - Apple 1 Basic, and the Breakout test. If (or when) I continue to clean out my storage facilities, I will send the winner of this auction the tapes. I also have a collection of at least 10 audio "tapes" in digital format that I had successfully loaded onto the Apple 1 from my EigerLabs MPMan audio player in the mid 90's - I will package them up and email them to the winner.

3) Original first generation Apple-1 Operation Manual
This is the white operation manual with the 'isaac newton' apple logo on the cover. The manual is complete, including full foldout schematics of the power supply, processor section, and terminal section. This is an early version of the manual, as it includes some typo's which have been corrected with a pen. Given the age of this manual, it is in good condition. Some of the pages are frayed at the edges, the binding staples are a little rusty, and the pages have started to yellow a little. There is no writing in the manual except for the correction in the system monitor section

4) Original first generation "green" Apple Basic Users Manual
This is the very first version of the users manual, and not only includes many typo's (some of which have been corrected with a pen), it includes the following warning:
"This is a Preliminary manual. It will, most likley (spelling mistake is in the original) contain errors, incorrect wordings, etc. Your effort in noting these areas of improvement will be greatly appreciated. If you find an error or can suggest an improvement, please write:
APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY
770 WELCH RD. SUITE 154
PALO ALTO, CA 94304
(415) 326-4248"
The cover of the manual has been separated from the staple, and there are a fair amount of frayed edges and small stains within the document. The name "Randy" is written on the cover (possibly Randy Wigginton, hombrew computer club member, and apple employee 6). There are also two small holes in the back page

5) Original first generation Apple-1 Cassette Interface Manual
This is a smaller 6 page fold-up manual which includes installation diagrams, Cassette Interface Schematics and programming instructions. The manual itself is in good condition, with no holes, slight yellowing, and a single pen underline of a memory address. The binding staples are also a little rusty, but in good condition considering the age.

6) Original first generation dual-sided apple advertisement
The front of the advertisement contains information relating to the motherboard, including an illustrated photograph. The backside contains informatoin and a photograph of the cassette board, the 'isaacnewton' apple logo, details on apple basic, and the price list. You can tell this is an early version because the price list only contains three items: Apple-1, Cassette Interface, and 4k Byte Ram. Additionally, the front illustrated diagram incorrectly labels the Motorola 6820 as the keyboard interface. The interface for the keyboard is actually one row up (Row B).

Video

Youtube video about Sotheby's auction.
Youtube video of the Apple-1 in the museum (from Yunah Choi).


Before you click on video links, make sure you have read and accepted the disclaimer regarding YouTube links, in accordance with the European Data Protection Law (2016/679).

Last update

Jul 12, 2026

Change log (since March 20, 2018)

Apr 08, 2018: Website(s) added. Components
Dec 07, 2018: Auctions added
May 27, 2019: Verification status
May 28, 2019: Museum's website added
Jun 13, 2019: Auctions
Jun 15, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jun 15, 2019: Video link(s) added. Components. History
Jun 16, 2019: 4 picture(s) added
Jun 25, 2019: Geo description. Museum's website
Jul 12, 2019: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jul 12, 2019: State. Description. History
Nov 20, 2020: Video link(s)
Apr 08, 2021: Name. Description. History
Nov 16, 2021: Working condition
Jul 29, 2025: State. Description. History
Jan 07, 2026: Description
Jun 16, 2026: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jun 16, 2026: 1 picture(s) deleted
Jun 16, 2026: Auctions
Jun 16, 2026: Verification status
Jun 16, 2026: Name. History
Jun 17, 2026: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jun 17, 2026: Name
Jun 19, 2026: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jul 08, 2026: Description of picture(s)/video(s)
Jul 08, 2026: History. Remarks added
Jul 08, 2026: 5 picture(s) added
Jul 12, 2026: Auctions
Jul 12, 2026: Video link(s)

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