Apple-1 With Steve Jobs Letter Sells for Record $1.148 Million
Bonhams sold the “Hatfield” Apple-1 for $1,148,200 including the buyer’s premium. Two bidders competed for 28 minutes, pushing the computer above its $500,000–$800,000 estimate.
Image: macrumors.com · Author: Hartley Charlton · source articleEditorial excerpt for news reporting
Bonhams sold the “Hatfield” Apple-1 for $1,148,200 including the buyer’s premium. The auction house said the result set a world record for a commercially sold Apple-1.
The auction closed on October 14 after 28 minutes of bidding between two participants. The final price exceeded the computer’s $500,000–$800,000 estimate.
Steve Jobs letter included
The computer takes its name from its first owner, Fred Hatfield, who contacted Apple about the Apple-1’s lack of software. The sale included Steve Jobs’s 1978 reply.
Jobs offered to exchange an Apple II motherboard for the Apple-1 and an additional $400. Hatfield kept the computer.
Hatfield later sold the Apple-1 privately for $40,000 while it needed repairs. The buyer restored it and obtained Steve Wozniak’s signature on the motherboard; the computer then set an earlier auction record in 2013 at approximately $686,000, Bonhams said.
Other Apple-1 prototypes have sold for more. The “Celebration” board fetched $815,000 in 2016 and sold for $2.75 million in January 2026.
What we know
- The “Hatfield” Apple-1 sold for $1,148,200 including the buyer’s premium.
- Two bidders competed for 28 minutes after an estimate of $500,000–$800,000.
- The lot included Steve Jobs’s 1978 proposal to exchange the computer for an Apple II motherboard.
- The computer’s previous auction record was approximately $686,000 in 2013.
Trust: Single source
- The story relies on one publisher. A second independent confirmation has not been established from the cited sources.
- Sources: MacRumors.
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