Rare Apple 1 set to fetch £309,000 at auction: Working 1976 model among items selling at Bonhams' History of Science sale

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Back in 1976, the Apple 1 computer cost £420 ($666) - but almost 40 years on, a rare working model is expected to fetch up to $500,000 (£309,500) at auction.

It is among a collection of items being sold in the inaugural History of Science sale at Bonhams New York on Wednesday.

Alongside the iconic computer is a letter from Charles Darwin about the reproduction of barnacles, a sketch drawn by mathematician Ada Lovelace and the world's first electric keyboard; the Helmholtz Sound Synthesizer from 1905.

The Apple 1, (pictured) valued at between $300,000 and 500,000 (£185,800 and $309,500), is the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold. It will headline the auction’s technology section at an auction at Bonhams New York on Wednesday. It has been valued so high because it is in ‘excellent condition'

The auction opens with an selection of globes, ranging from miniature and pocket globes, to desktop and educational globes, to planetary models.

Notable lots include Richard Cushee's New Pocket Globe, produced in 1731, estimated to fetch between $8,000 and $12,000, (£5,000 and £7,400).

There is also a terrestrial globe and armillary sphere by the French globe maker Félix Delamarche in 1834, valued at between $10,000 and $15,000 (£6,100 and £9,200).

Meanwhile, the Apple 1, valued at between $300,000 and 500,000 (£185,800 and $309,500), is the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold. 

There is also an extensive archive belonging to astronomer and telescope designer George Willis Ritchey, expected to sell for between $450,000 and $550,000 (£278,500 and £340,250). The collection contains hundreds of vintage photographs (pictured), telescopes and glass slides

The Mathematics and Physics section includes a Helmholtz Sound Synthesizer (pictured), estimated at $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500). An example of the first electric keyboard, the item was crafted by Max Kohl after the design by physicist Hermann von Hemholtz

It will headline the auction’s technology section and has been valued so high because it is in ‘excellent condition.’

Only five operating units of the computer have come up for public sale in the past four years, and all have had damage, repairs or modifications from their original shipping condition.

This example was booted up in August of 2014 by Apple 1 expert Corey Cohen.

Other important items is a first edition of the paper on the history of digital computing, Ada Lovelace's ‘Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage,’ estimated to be worth $18,000 to $25,000 (£11,100 and £15,500), and a silk portrait of J.M. Jacquard, valued at between $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500).

THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE SALE: NOTABLE LOTS 

This is another photo, showing the moon, taken from the George Willis Ritchey archive

Apple 1: Valued at between $300,000 and 500,000 (£185,800 and $309,500), it is the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold.

It will headline the auction’s technology section and has been valued so high because it is in ‘excellent condition.’

Only five operating units of the computer have come up for public sale in the past four years, and all have had damage, repairs or modifications from their original shipping condition. 

Helmholtz Sound Synthesizer: Estimated at $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500), it is an example of the first electric keyboard. 

The item was crafted by Max Kohl in 1905, based on the design by physicist Hermann von Hemholtz.

The synthesizer was used to combine timbres of 10 harmonics to form various vowel sounds. 

The system is driven by an intermittent current provided by a large horizontal master tuning fork on numbered wood base, and was operated by pressing on the various keys which sent the current to the corresponding electrically driven tuning forks. 

First edition of William Withering's Account of the Foxglove: Published in 1785, the item, valued at between $10,000 and $20,000 (£6,100 and £12,380) presents his discovery of the efficacy of digitalis in the treatment of heart disease.

An original viewing window (pictured) used in the production of plutonium by the WWII Manhattan project bomb program is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000 (£93,000 and £150,000). Researchers would have stood behind the window while watching atomic-bomb experiments

Dr Nathaniel Wallich’s Plantae Asiaticae Rariores: Valued at $35,000 to $55,000 (£21,660 to £34,000), the plate was published between 1830 and 1832. 

Dr Wallich is known for his work on the botany of India and was the first European to study the plants of Nepal, and of the countries south of the Himalayas.

He was commissioned by the East India Company to produce illustrated work, and the copy up for auction was taken from the collection of the Director of the East India Company.

Astronomer and telescope designer George Willis Ritchey archive: Expected to sell for between $450,000 and $550,000 (£278,500 and £340,250), the collection contains hundreds of vintage photographs, telescopes, glass slides, a 27-inch (69cm) cellular mirror, and a 20-inch (50cm) optical flat, manuscripts, blueprints and books.

Manhattan Project Viewing Window: An original viewing window used in the production of plutonium by the WWII Manhattan project bomb program. 

The program developed the Atomic Bomb Little Boy, the Trinity Test, and the first ever Hydrogen Bomb, as well as the Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August, 1945.

It is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000 (£93,000 and £150,000). 

Researchers would have stood behind the window while watching the atomic-bomb experiments, to protect them from radiation.  

J.M Jacquard was executed in 1839 and the portrait was created using one of his own programmable Jacquard looms, the invention of which is regarded as the birth of the computer age.

There is also a letter by Charles Darwin (pictured) discussing reproduction in barnacles, valued between $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500)

Bonhams' sale also contains a section on astronomy, featuring books and manuscripts, alongside telescopes, and both planetary and deep-space photography.

In particular, there is an extensive archive belonging to astronomer and telescope designer George Willis Ritchey, expected to sell for between $450,000 and $550,000 (£278,500 and £340,250).

The collection contains hundreds of vintage photographs, telescopes, glass slides, a 27-inch (69cm) cellular mirror, and a 20-inch (50cm) optical flat, manuscripts, blueprints and books.

Elsewhere, the Natural History section includes large format colour plate books such as Dr Nathaniel Wallich’s Plantae Asiaticae Rariores, valued at $35,000 to $55,000 (£21,660 to £34,000).

It was published between 1830 and 1832.

Dr Wallich is known for his work on the botany of India and was the first European to study the plants of Nepal, and of the countries south of the Himalayas.

He was commissioned by the East India Company to produce illustrated work, and the copy up for auction was taken from the collection of the Director of the East India Company.

There is also a letter penned by Charles Darwin discussing reproduction in barnacles, valued between $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500).

The largest section of the sale focuses on Medicine and Physiology, and includes selections in anatomy, obstetrics, teratology, and surgery, as well Nobel Prize winning works in genetics.

THE ICONIC APPLE 1 

Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created the personal computer in 1976 and presented it at a Palo Alto computer club, but there were few takers at the time.

Paul Terrell, owner of a retail chain called Byte Shop, placed an order for 50 of the machines and sold them for $666.66 (£420) retail - once Mr Wozniak and Mr Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than offer them as kits.

The pair then produced 150 more and sold them to friends and other vendors.

Fewer than 50 original Apple 1s are believed to have survived, with only six known to be in working condition.

The Apple 1 did not have a keyboard or monitor, meaning users had to supply their own.

The Apple 1 did not have a keyboard or monitor, meaning users had to supply their own. Launched in July 1976, it was priced at $666.66 (£420) - reportedly because Apple founder Steve Wozniak liked repeating digits. It is not known how many were sold but by April 1977 the price had dropped to $475 (£300)

It also had a tiny 8K memory - minuscule by today's standards.

Launched in July 1976, it was priced at $666.66 (£420) - reportedly because Mr Wozniak liked repeating digits.

Jobs sent them direct to buyers from the garage of his parents’ house.

It is not known how many were sold but by April 1977 the price had dropped to $475 (£300).

The computer helped kick-start a technological revolution that brought affordable computers out of science labs and into people’s homes.

The Apple II was introduced in April 1977 with an integrated keyboard, sound, a plastic case, and eight internal expansion slots.

By the time it was discontinued in October 1977, around 200 Apple 1s had been produced.

It is thought that only 30 to 50 of the computers still exist today and there is rarely an opportunity to buy one. 

Of special interest is a first edition of William Withering's Account of the Foxglove, published in 1785.

The item, valued at between $10,000 and $20,000 (£6,100 and £12,380) presents his discovery of the efficacy of digitalis in the treatment of heart disease.

Of particular note to scholars is an archive of manuscripts and original artwork by the French physiologist Antoine-Pierre-Ernest Bazin on the anatomy of the lungs and respiratory system, set to fetch between $10,000 and $15,000 (£6,100 and £9,200).

The Natural History section includes large format colour plate books such as Dr Nathaniel Wallich’s Plantae Asiaticae Rariores, valued at $35,000 to $55,000 (£21,660 to £34,000) (pictured left). There is also a silk portrait of J.M. Jacquard (right) valued at between $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500) up for sale

The auction also features a selection of globes, ranging from miniature and pocket globes, to desktop and educational globes. Notable lots include a terrestrial globe and armillary sphere (pictured) by the French globe maker Félix Delamarche in 1834, valued at $10,000 and $15,000 (£6,100 and £9,200)

The Mathematics and Physics section includes a Helmholtz Sound Synthesizer, estimated at $20,000 and $30,000 (£12,380 and £18,500).

An example of the first electric keyboard, the item was crafted by Max Kohl after the design by physicist Hermann von Hemholtz.

‘Specimens of these are extremely rare, with only one similar but smaller apparatus located in a US institution that we know of.

‘We have not seen another as large or finely made as this one,’ said Cassandra Hatton, senior specialist who is in charge of this sale.