Apple-1 Computer Sells for Record $1,148,200 at Bonhams Auction
A fully functional Apple-1 computer known as the “Hatfield” sold for $1,148,200 including the buyer’s premium at a Bonhams auction in New York, setting a new world record for a commercially produced unit of the historic hardware, as Novinky reported. Two competing bidders pushed the final price far beyond the pre-sale estimate of $500,000 to $800,000 during a tense 28-minute bidding war that concluded on October 14, according to Mobilizujeme.cz. The machine, bearing registry number 48, features a signature from Steve Wozniak on the circuit board and is accompanied by a rare letter signed by Steve Jobs.
The Refusal That Preserved a Piece of Tech History
The computer is named after its first owner, Fred Hatfield, a New Hampshire resident who originally purchased the machine to decode radio signals. Frustrated by the limited software available for the device, Hatfield wrote a letter of complaint to Apple. In response, Steve Jobs sent a letter dated January 18, 1978, offering to swap the Apple-1 for a newer Apple II 4K motherboard, provided Hatfield returned the original circuit board without memory chips and added a $400 cash payment. Hatfield declined the offer because he did not want to pay the extra money for a system that had already disappointed him, later storing the hardware in a box before selling it in 2013 for $40,000.
Only 74 Verified Apple-1 Units Survive Today
Built in 1976, the Apple-1 was the very first product released by Apple, with Steve Wozniak manually assembling the circuit boards in the garage of the Jobs family home in Los Altos. Only 200 units were ever manufactured, originally retailing for $666.66. According to the Apple-1 Registry cited by Bonhams, only 74 verified surviving units remain today, with even fewer in operational condition. The Hatfield machine belongs to the second NTI production series and was last tested in 2013, remaining unopened and unmodified since then.
Hatfield Machine Sets Record for Commercial Apple-1
While the $1.15 million final price represents a record for a commercial Apple-1 model, ultra-rare prototypes have commanded even higher sums on the collector market, such as an “Celebration” prototype that fetched 2.75 million dollars in January 2026. The same Hatfield machine previously sold at a 2013 auction for $686,000, meaning its value climbed roughly 67 percent over thirteen years. Jeffrey Kral, a specialist in the history of science and technology at Bonhams, noted that the combination of Wozniak’s signature on the board and Jobs’s original correspondence makes this specific survivor a uniquely documented artifact of early computing.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Hatfield Apple-1 Auction
How many operational Apple-1 computers still exist?
According to the Apple-1 Registry cited by Bonhams, there are 74 verified surviving exemplars out of the 200 units originally produced in 1976, though only a fraction of those remaining machines are fully operational.
Why did Fred Hatfield refuse Steve Jobs’s trade-in offer?
Fred Hatfield declined the 1978 offer because he was already dissatisfied with the lack of available software for the Apple-1 and was unwilling to pay the required $400 cash surcharge to upgrade to an Apple II motherboard.
Where was the auctioned Apple-1 manufactured?
The machine belongs to the second NTI production series and was hand-soldered and assembled by Steve Wozniak in the garage of the Jobs family home in Los Altos.
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