The search is on for a woman in the Silicon Valley area. However, unlike most searches in this part of America; no one is dead, no laws have been broken and the story is not one of doom and destruction.
In fact, a recycling firm in Silicon Valley is on the well-publicised hunt for a recently widowed woman who deposited an incredibly rare Apple-1 computer for recycling, which fetched $200,000 at auction.
The woman, whom is believed to be in her mid-60’s, donated boxes of computer parts to the recycling firm in Milpitas, California, back in April.
Within one of the boxes was an authentic 1976 Apple-1, even if at first staff thought it was a fake.
The woman had told staff at the drop off point that she had found the boxes of parts after a garage cleanout following the death of her husband. Yet, she did not leave a name, address and nor did she fill out a tax receipt for the donations.
After the incredibly sought after computer was put into auction it raised a total amount of $200,000, of which the recycling centre would like to split with the mystery woman. The recycler’s policy is to split proceeds with the person who donated the electronic equipment.
The recycling centre has gone as far as to put a finders fee in for the person who locates the woman.
What is the Apple-1?
The Apple-1 was one of the first pre-assembled computers made available to the buying public, also being one of the current-day giants first attempts at computer mass-production.
Put together by co-founder Steve Wozniak in fellow co-founder Steve Jobs’ garage, the original units retailed at a frankly demonic $666.66 – the equivalent to nearly $2,786 (£1,821) in todays climate, although dropped to $475 a year after its launch.
When the Apple II was launched, after the Apple-1 was dropped from price lists, owners were encouraged to trade in their old computer for a new one, with Apple destroying the Apple I’s that were exchanged, contributing to their rarity today.
While 63 Apple-1 computers are confirmed to exist, only 6 have been verified to be in working order.
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