Apple I desktop computer
A woman in California's Silicon Valley recently dropped off an Apple computer at a recycling center. The collectible item, a first-generation Apple I desktop computer built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, has a value of $200,000.
Victor Gichun, Clean Bay Area's vice president, discovered the vintage desktop CPU inside boxes of electronics. The woman who tossed the CPU in early April had found the containers while performing a garage clean-up, according to Mercury News.
Clean Bay Area recycles various electronics including computers, lab equipment and semiconductors. About five times weekly people make walk-in donations.
The CPU donor left no contact information and refused all official documentation, including a tax receipt. Workers at the recycling plant opened up the boxes a few weeks later due to a high volume of donations, when they found the antique computer.
Gichun informed KNTV-TV that it was an amazing discovery. They thought it was just a replica Apple computer.
Incredibly the historical computer was one of around 200 units manufactured by Jobs and Wozniak, co-founders of Apple Inc.
The recycling business sold the Apple I CPU to a private collection for $200,000, according to TVNZ. They still want to find the anonymous donor to give her 50 percent of the deal, due to a company policy.
Gichun said that he recalls the woman's appearance and that she drove a SUV. He is requesting that she return to Clean Bay Area in order to claim her big check of $100,000.
The donor dropped off the computing machine soon after her husband's death. Gichun's own mother died at age 54, so he believes she might need some extra cash.
Wozniak, a computer hobbyist, designed Apple I during his spare time. After Apple Computer was launched in April 1976, Jobs and Wozniak unveiled the commercially-successful Apple II one year later at a computer trade show in California.
