A rare piece of Apple history has just become the most expensive commercially sold Apple-1 ever auctioned. The working “Hatfield” computer, signed on its motherboard by Steve Wozniak, sold for $1,148,200 to an undisclosed buyer at Bonhams, including the buyer’s premium. Engadget reported the result after the October 14 sale, while MacRumors noted that two bidders competed for 28 minutes before the final price surpassed Bonhams’ $500,000-to-$800,000 estimate.
The machine’s appeal goes well beyond its famous autograph. Listed as No. 48 in the Apple-1 Registry, it was originally owned by Fred Hatfield, an employee of Computer Data Systems and an early Apple customer. Hatfield complained to the fledgling company about the Apple-1’s limited software library, prompting a January 1978 letter from Steve Jobs offering an Apple II motherboard in exchange for the older computer and an additional $400.
That letter gives the auction lot an unusually direct connection to Apple’s transition from hobbyist hardware to a more polished consumer product. The Apple-1 debuted in 1976 as a largely bare circuit board, requiring buyers to provide or build much of the surrounding system. The Smithsonian describes the initial run as 100 personal computers, while later historical accounts commonly place total production at roughly 200 units. Smithsonian Magazine identifies the Apple-1 as a collaboration between Jobs and Wozniak at the beginning of the personal-computing era.
Working condition is a major part of the Hatfield board’s value. Fewer than 75 Apple-1 computers are generally recognized as surviving, and only a portion still operate. The computer’s earlier auction history makes the new result even more dramatic: after being sold by Hatfield in 2013, the nonworking machine was restored, signed by Wozniak, and later brought $671,400 at auction.
The record also illustrates why early computing hardware now commands the same kind of attention as vintage comic art, film props, and game cartridges. The Hatfield Apple-1 is not merely a scarce prototype or display piece; it is a functioning example tied to a named owner, a signed artifact from one of its designers, and correspondence from the other. That combination turns a primitive circuit board into a compact paper trail of Apple’s earliest business decisions.
For collectors, the sale sets a new benchmark for Apple-1 hardware, but it also leaves one appealing question unanswered: where will the computer go next? Bonhams has not identified the buyer, so the Hatfield machine may disappear into a private collection—or eventually return to public display as interest in the Apple founders’ earliest work continues to grow.
