Apple-1 Computer Prototype Board #0 sold for $2.75M

Summary

UPDATE: Click here to view Corey Cohen's report. Description The ?Celebration? Apple-1: earliest known fiberglass prototype used to validate Apple?s first computer VIDEO Unique, pre-production Apple-1 pre-NTI board, representing the earliest known fiberglass Apple-1 prototype assembled before the first Byte Shop production run. It occupies a singular and critical place in Apple history as the first corrected-layout board used by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to validate the Apple-1 design before entering into commercial production.Historical documentation shows that Apple commissioned the initial Apple-1 PCB layout from Howard Cantin in March 1976. From this work came the tan phenolic prototype board, sold by RR Auction in August 2022—an inexpensive test board that required extensive reworking to operate properly. After those issues were identified and corrected, Apple needed to confirm that the revised design functioned correctly when produced on a proper fiberglass PCB. The “Celebration” Apple-1 is that transitional board: the validation unit assembled before Apple built the first fifty machines for Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop order.Its construction clearly distinguishes it from all other surviving Apple-1 computers. This board uses wave-soldered Robinson-Nugent sockets instead of the cheaper Texas Instruments sockets used on production boards, and it incorporates a unique mix of hand-soldered components sourced locally for testing rather than from Apple’s later standardized purchasing (e.g. two common silver Sprague 39D capacitors that were not computer-rated, but easily available at a radio repair shop).The board carries a smaller, non-standard heatsink, and the voltage regulation area displays no evidence that the larger, production-style heatsink was ever installed. The board also contains a unique modification to the 74123 timing circuit used for DRAM refresh, consistent with the diagnosis of timing issues before full-scale production.These characteristics demons...