Apple-1 Mystery Is Finally Solved 45 Years Later

About 45 yr ago , Apple sold 200 of its first - ever product : the Apple-1 computer . Of those , around 82 still exist and about 80 in the first batch of 100 are said to have a handwritten serial number on the mainboard ( these appear as “ 01 - 00 # # ” ) . Only a few dozen of those 80 are still around . For tenner , a handful of Apple fiend wondered who pen those sequential numbers racket , but nobody within the company would fess up . Now we last eff who scribbled on those computers , as reported by9to5Mac .

Let ’s back up : Steve Wozniak said he did n’t do it ; Steve Jobs supposedly said it was n’t him , either ; Daniel Kottke , who assembled and tested some of the boards , denied it ; and all of the control board makers maintained their innocence . One of the precede theories was that the Byte Shop , which had purchased the first 50 Apple-1 computers , was responsible , except that possessor Paul Terrell said he had n’t done it , either .

Achim Baqué , the curator of the Apple-1 Registry — a database of every lie with Apple-1 computer — was determined to puzzle out this long - standing riddle , so he jumped on a sheet from Germany to Los Angeles with two Apple-1 computers and put them in the deal of PSA , a handwriting assay-mark company dealing mainly in sports card .

Photo: MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Getty Images)

Along with these uncommon , valuable computers ( last year , anApple-1 sell for $ 500,000 ) , the PSA pull together photos of every handwritten number on Apple-1 computers and various other composition samples . The troupe then set about evaluating the grounds by identifying various characteristic , include slant , stream , pen pressure , and letter size .

After three months of research and examination , Achim Baqué with help from the PSA had finally solved the secret : It was Apple conscientious objector - founder Steve Jobs who had penned those numbers . Why he marked these fussy unit is a secret that will forever remain unsolved . It ’s potential he forgot , but I opt to think he did so knowing that he was planting the seminal fluid of what would become the public ’s most valuable company .

you’re able to take the full story over at theApple-1 Registry , where you ’ll find letter of authentication documents signed by PSA . Here is alink to one of the certified boards , which notice : “ Steve Jobs did not sign the tour board , however , all writing was written in his deal . ”

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