Rare Apple 1 left for recycling fetches US$200,000 in private auction

Don’t just dump, recycle. What one woman considered to be nothing but electronic waste turned out to include a treasure that a collector bought for US$200,000 at a private auction. Clean Bay Area, a recycling center in Milpitas, California, said on its website that a woman in her 60s dropped off some electronic goods in April, when she was cleaning out the garage after her husband died. On closer inspection, the boxes of computer parts turned out to include a rare 1976 Apple 1. Only a few dozen of these groundbreaking home computers, which Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak built in 1976, are known to still exist. Victor Gichun, the vice president of Clean Bay Area, said a $100,000 check is waiting for the mystery woman as the recycler’s policy is to split the proceeds 50-50 with the person who donated the equipment.

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