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Early 1976 Apple-1 computer, from the garage of Steve Jobs

THE COPSON APPLE-1 PERSONAL COMPUTER, one of 63 known survivors
•  Owned by the original owner and his family for over 36 years
•  Very early first-series machine with low Byte Shop number
•  Includes original and extremely rare accessory Apple-1 Cassette board
•  Recently serviced and started up by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen
•  Rare original owner supplied clam shell case and date stamped keyboard
•  Correct and period Sony Solid State TV-115 television monitor
•  Original owner’s story told in major section of ‘The First Apple’ book


Specifications
Original Apple-1 motherboard, labeled "Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976" with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18, white ceramic MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, labeled MCS 6502 1576, 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips, original 3 “Big-Blue” power supply capacitors by Sprague, firmware in PROMS (A1, A2), low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, two external period correct power transformers; all mounted inside period clam shell case as originally provided by selling dealer Byte Shop or original owner, case dimensions 13.25” by 16.6” by 5”; with integrated Datanetics keyboard date June 2, 1976 stamped on backside; period Sony model TV-115 Solid State television; contemporary replica Apple-1 Operation Manual autographed by Steve Wozniak, 8 ½ in by 11 in.; original Apple-1 cassette interface board; Panasonic RQ-2102 cassette recorder.
 

 

                               
 


About the beginning of Apple
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were members of the Home Brew Club, a group of computer enthusiasts who met weekly at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center auditorium in the 70s. At one meeting, Jobs was approached by Paul Terrell, owner of a fledging chain of computer stores. Terrell suggested to Jobs that he might buy some of the motherboards Jobs and Wozniak were promoting to club members, and suggested Steve follow up. As the story goes, first thing Monday morning Jobs appeared at the store to secure an order. He was said to have shown up barefoot. Being a natural salesman, he left the store with an order for 50 machines. Not just motherboards, Terrell wanted actual computers so there had to be keyboards and power supplies included… so a more complete ‘personal computer’ package could be sold. With the order in hand, Jobs quickly found his partner Steve Wozniak to inform him that they now had a real company. That first order of 50 machines was the catalyst, the real beginning of Apple Computer. Jobs recruited his friend and co-worker from Atari, Ronald G. Wayne, to be the third founder and also the ‘grown-up’ of the group. Wayne typed up the original partnership agreement for the three of them on April Fool’s Day, April 1, 1976, and each signed it. Jobs then went about fulfilling the order. This machine is most certainly from that original group of fifty, as indicated by its details. First, it is a first-series Apple-1. According to the Apple-1 Registry, there were two series of machines. Secondly, a number of the surviving series-one machines have an original hand-applied serial number or inventory number on the back of the board, thought to have been put on by the Byte Shop.

The Numbers
Thirteen surviving Apple-1 machines, all known to be early production units, are hand numbered on the backside of the board. The numbers are believed to have been an inventory numbering system added by the first retailer of Apple Computers, the Byte Shop. A contemporary discussion with 70s Byte Shop founder Paul Terrell, in the book The First Apple, indicated he did not recall the numbering, but he admitted his focus at the time was adding new stores to his fledgling chain, and the in-store inventory management was handled by a manager. Some of the numbers on surviving machines are:

•  01-0013 (private collection in U.S.)
•  01-0022 (the Copson machine)
•  01-0025 (sold at auction in 2013)
•  01-0070 (Henry Ford Museum)

Since the Copson machine is #22 and the machine purchased for the Henry Ford Museum is #70, the acquirer of this machine is likely getting an earlier machine then the Ford Museum purchased at auction in September 2014 for $905,000. Between 13 and 16 Apple-1s are in museum collections. According to the registry and other sources, there are Apple-1s in museums including the Smithsonian, the Science Museum of London, and the National Museum of Scotland. They are in museums in Switzerland, South Korea and Germany. Not all Apple-1s are ‘equal’. A careful study of the registry reveals the full history of 32 of the survivors is unknown. There is no trail back to 1976, and no one knows who the original purchasers were. Other factors include condition, originality, modifications, and provenance. A number of units were traded in on a generous program where Apple wanted to stop supporting the service of the out-of-date machines, and get owners to move up to an Apple II. The trade-ins ended in a discard pile on the floor of Job’s office, and were not to be resold! At least two of those survive today, because Jobs allowed employees to take them as souvenirs. During the research of my book, I found out about one being stored in a shed, with little more than a plastic bag to protect it from the elements. The inside track among collectors is that a number of the ‘survivors’ listed in the registry as “location unknown” actually no longer survive. All this should be considered when the opportunity to acquire a good or great example comes along.

Joey Copson
The Copson Apple-1 story about owner Joey Copson is a key subject in the highly rated book, The First Apple, written from 2011 to 2013 by the consignor after he interviewed many old friends of Jobs and Steve Wozniak, most of whom were early employees of Apple. The book includes the ‘all-American’ story of Joey, from his young beginnings as a ‘brainiac’ to his time doing service in the Vietnam war, and his years working for Atari as a game designer, and then ultimately an Apple trouble shooter. Joey gets credit for being the Atari programmer who did the games  Star Raiders (Silver 1, 5200 System, 1982) and Spitfire (1983). In 2007, Star Raiders was named one of the ten most important video games of all time.

Excerpted from The First Apple book, an interview with Joey Copson’s brother Bill:
Bill Copson, “Joey got it brand new from a shop down in San Jose called the Byte Shop. That’s who he bought it through, but I’m almost sure it came to him via the mail, through a package. I was there the day he opened it, and he was all excited about this green board with black chips. He’s opening it up and I’m going, “Wow, this has got to be something really bitchin’.” And he opens it up,  oh, wow! But to him, he’s almost bowing down to it, and I’m like, “What are you so excited for? He was like a kid opening up the best present he ever got at Christmas. It was as if you got the BB gun you always wanted. I remember when the Apple II came out, and he said, “They’ll give me a big discount if I trade in the Apple-1,” and he goes, “No, I’m not going to. I don’t care, I’m keeping the Apple-1.”

“Joey lived in a tiny cabin shack in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s up on Scotts Valley. When he died, I hadn’t thought about the Apple-1 for years. It was already down at mom’s house Palo Alto, stuffed in a closet.”

(Much of The First Apple book follows the story of the Rickett’s Apple-1, including the images on the cover.)

Working Condition
The Copson Apple-1 is fully operational, having been serviced and fired up by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen in September 2014. Mr. Cohen ran the standard original software program, Microsoft BASIC, and also an original Apple-1 Star Trek game in order to test the machine. The start-up process was documented on video, and performed on the campus of the historic Info Age Science History Museum in Wall, New Jersey; an important site where research was done during World War I and World War II on space exploration and the cold war. Corey is widely considered to be the world’s pre-eminent expert on Apple-1 computers, and is called on by auction houses, cable and television networks, and news media for his expertise.

Corey’s comments are, “The Copson board is an 8 out of 10…” and, “Late in 2014, I was asked to bring the Copson Apple-1 setup back to working state. In the process of my evaluation, the Copson Apple-1 board was chemically stabilized and cleaned. I took extreme care to keep all the discrete components on the board original by performing some minor repairs instead of replacing components unnecessarily, maintaining it’s originality. The Copson Apple-1 has no cuts, repairs or modifications to the PCB board.
The Datanetics keyboard was completely refurbished, the original Apple Cassette Interface was refurbished and the original power supply made safe and operational.
The Copson Apple-1 is unique due to the futuristic custom plastic case that Joe Copson placed it in. The case appears oddly similar in design to what would be used later by the early Apple II. The distinctive jumper wiring also performed by Joe Copson when he later purchased the Apple Cassette Interface, can also be used to uniquely identify and confirm this is the Copson Apple-1 board from other early Byte Shop Apple-1s that also predate the Apple Cassette Interface’s availability.”


The motherboard and power supplies are housed in the off-white clam shell case which also houses the keyboard. The motherboard can easily be lifted out of the case if the owner wishes to display the case and board separately. The case would have originally been fitted either by the Byte Shop or by Copson. The founder of the Byte Shop explained (in an interview for the book) that his staff would try and sell extras with the Apple-1 board, such as cases. In this case, the consignor senses that it is more likely that this case was fitted by Copson himself. It was a common practice for hobbyists of the time to cobble together their components in off-the-shelf boxes. Also, Bill Copson (Joey’s brother) was interviewed for the book and recalled seeing the green board when Joey first took it out of the box in 1976, indicating he may have received it without the case. The period Datanetics keyboard is integrated into the clam shell case. This offering also includes a period Sony television, as originally specified and described by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who modified them to be their computer monitors.

The Copson Apple-1 auction presents an exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire an extremely early delivery Apple-1, with complete provenance since new in 1976. Very few of the 63 or so surviving Apple-1 computers have an unbroken chain of known ownership dating back to Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Byte Shop. Besides the Apple-1s traded-in on the Apple ][ and put on a scrap heap at Apple, some others were unsold and never completed (bare boards), and given later to employees, who have added parts to make them complete today. The history of surviving Apple-1s are documented in Mike Willegal’s  Apple-1 Registry, found online.
A careful study of each machine’s description and known history in the Registry will show just how special the Copson computer is.

Provenance
•  Assembled in the garage and home of Steve Jobs
•  Part of the first order from the Byte Shop to Steve Jobs, that order which prompted Jobs and Wozniak to start their company
•  Acquired new in 1976 by Joey Copson from the Byte Shop in San Jose, California
•  Descended in the Copson family after the untimely death of Joey in 2003
•  Acquired in 2012 by the author of The First Apple, during the research and writing of the book

Terms
The Copson Apple-1 is being offered on eBay with no reserve price. The highest bidder will win the machine, regardless of price. All prospective bidders must be approved to bid by Auction Cause, an eBay partner with extensive experience in supporting charity and celebrity auctions. The seller may also approve bidders.  Click here to get prequalified. 10% of the sale price will go to charity. The designated charity is the ALS Association, dedicated to Lou Gehrig’s disease. The terms of payment are that 20% must be received by the seller within 72 hours of the close of the auction. The balance must be paid within one week of the close of the auction. Please note that since this is a 39 year old computer, seller represents he had the computer running as noted, but makes no representations or guarantee that it will run in the future.

Shipping
The Copson Apple-1 comes with a custom built shipping box, made of wood and lined with layers of Styrofoam. It’s heavy and measures 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet, and it is suitable for long distance transport. The successful bidder is welcome to come to Alexandria, Virginia to pick up the computer. Shipping arrangements will have to be made by the successful purchaser, but the seller can recommend a local shipper to assist in facilitating shipment on behalf of the purchaser. The purchaser will be responsible for all costs including any insurance coverage he or she chooses.

References:
The First Apple book on Amazon
Info Age Science History Museum
The Apple 1 Registry
Bonham’s Apple-1 sale to Henry Ford Museum

 

 

 


 

My whole life, I've been a treasure hunter. Growing up in the 1970s, I often made my discoveries through the local newspaper classified ads. That was my best source to locate vintage cars, and those little ads even led to a trip to Honduras to hunt for gold nuggets. Ten years ago, a tiny classified ad in the Washington Post for a sheriff’s sale indicated the auction would include the first Apple computer. I was able to purchase that 1976 Apple-1, which led me to write the book The First Apple. My book research included tracking down friends of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who’d worked in the home and garage of the Jobs family in the beginning days of Apple. I also befriended the 3rd founder of Apple, Ronald G. Wayne. During my research on the book, I acquired a 2nd Apple-1 from the family of the man who’d bought it new. I loved the story of Joey Copson and his bright green machine, so it became part of my book.

 

I've decided to sell my Apple collection, and some was sold at Christie’s New York in December. I have a friend and employee diagnosed with ALS seven years ago. He continues to work with me to this day. That experience has led me to earmark some proceeds of the auction to the ALS Association.   

 

-Bob Luther, Alexandria, Virginia

 

 


 

A percentage of proceeds from all the auctions will benefit the ALS Association. The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front. By leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. For more information, please visit [link removed by eBay]

 



Disclaimer:  Apple and Apple Computer are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.




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