However, when the hammer came down this weekend in Cologne, Germany the lot only fetched €246,000 (RM1.05mil) despite the fact that it is one of only six examples of the Apple I still in full working order and is the only example ever to still have its original box.
What's more, as it is example number 46 of the initial batch of 50 Apple I computers, it was hand-built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple's co-founders) and as photographic evidence attests, actually sat in the young Jobs' bedroom before being delivered to The Byte Shop, the computer store that was the first to buy and stock the PC.
Hopes had been high for the computer. The German auction house that organised the sale - TeamBreker - had already managed to break the record for the highest price paid for an Apple I at auction not once, but twice over the last 12 months.
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