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Brownstein: Apple I original could be worth a fortune for Montrealer

“It wasn’t only a technological breakthrough in that era, but it has also become great art. To me, it’s like the Mona Lisa."

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For a few hundred bucks, you could probably procure a fairly reliable used computer, with all the bells and whistles and a whack of memory to boot.

Or you could also pick up a second-hand Apple on eBay with few bells and whistles and little memory and no internet connection for … US$1.5 million.

No typo.

Nor does this Apple’s value have anything to do with the primitive Sony monitor or keyboard or power supply that comes with it. It’s all about its intricate circuit board that has been laid in a fancy piece of Hawaiian Koa wood. It’s an Apple I original, designed and built by Steve Wozniak in 1976 and based on an idea by his then-business partner Steve Jobs.

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Don’t bother checking your basements to see if you have one long since buried there. There were only about 175 made — mostly in Jobs’s garage — for the devilish price of $666.66 each, and they didn’t come equipped with power supply, display, keyboard or housing.

And only one ever made it to Canada. It belongs to Montreal computer developer Krishna Blake, who obtained it quite by accident.

This original Apple l belongs to Montreal computer developer Krishna Blake, who has put it up for sale on eBay for US$1.5 million.
This original Apple l belongs to Montreal computer developer Krishna Blake, who has put it up for sale on eBay for US$1.5 million. Photo by courtesy of Krishna Blake /jpg

The Apple l models were all sold in California. But in 1978, a man with a defective Apple l entered Arrow/Cesco Electronics, the Jean-Talon St. computer shop where Blake had been working. He was directed to Blake, who was asked if he could repair it. This computer shop had been responsible for Apple II maintenance here prior to Apple’s emergence in Canada.

It was love at first sight for Blake. He was then able to obtain the Apple l from the customer in exchange for a new Apple ll. Blake also gave the fellow a personal lifetime warranty for the latter. But he never saw him or the Apple ll again.

“From the moment I first laid my eyes on it, I wanted it. In my mind, it had something that was going to live forever,” says Blake, 68, whose own computer company would later go on to develop, among other systems, one used by Urgences-santé for 911.

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Krishna Blake is seen with his Apple I circuit board during its official verification in 2015 at a lab in New Jersey.
Krishna Blake is seen with his Apple I circuit board during its official verification in 2015 at a lab in New Jersey. Photo by Courtesy of Krishna Blake

Blake’s Apple l, which has been verified by an expert, is unmodified, still operational and “only one of six known surviving units to come housed in an original Byte Shop Koa wood case,” according to AppleInsider. There are about 85 still in existence, according to the Apple l Registry.

In 2014, an Apple l sold for US$905,000, and Blake claims to have been presented with a US$950,000 offer. He has also offered it for sale — at a reduced price — to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, but he has yet to hear back.

With costs of repairs and verification factored in, Blake figures he has spent about $5,000 on his Apple l, which would make for quite the return on an investment — even greater than the amount he would have netted had he invested in Apple stock back in the 1970s.

“I had never talked about my Apple l to anyone for years. I just enjoyed looking at it in an air-conditioned unit at home,” Blake says.

Blake’s Apple l is now being stored in a Florida bank vault.

Nor will he sell it to just anyone.

“It wasn’t only a technological breakthrough in that era, but it has also become great art. To me, it’s like the Mona Lisa. It belongs with someone or some institution that understands and appreciates its value and place in the worlds of technology and art,” Blake says. “It’s 45 years old and came out in the infancy of computers, when even the internet wasn’t in anyone’s head yet. But who knew then what kind of value it would have today? And don’t forget that Apple almost went bankrupt in the mid-’90s.

“The Apple l was such a technological marvel, the first all-in-one board. The Koa wood was really special, too, also used in the making of great musical instruments. This was such an engineering feat by Wozniak, and, of course, Jobs became one of the best marketing people on the planet.”

Blake may not be far behind if he fetches his price.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

twitter.com/billbrownstein

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