An old check bearing the signatures of Apple company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak was recently auctioned for Rs 20 crore ($2.4 million). Surprisingly, this check was actually worth only $500 (about ₹ 42,000), but due to its historical value, it was auctioned at a price 4,800 times more than its original price.
Why is this check so special?
The biggest reason for this check being sold at such a high price is that it is being considered as Apple’s ‘birth certificate’. This check is dated March 16, 1976, i.e. 15 days older than the inception of Apple Company. ‘Check No. 1’ is written on it, which means that this was the world’s first payment made from the company’s first bank account.
The second special thing is that it has the signatures of both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak together, which is rarely seen. Since Steve Jobs did not like giving autographs, things with his signature are now considered very valuable in the world.
The story of Apple’s initial struggle
This check was given to a designer named Howard Cantin. At that time, Apple did not have any factory of its own, so Cantin transformed Steve Wozniak’s hand-drawn maps into a professional circuit board. With this hard work, Apple’s first computer, Apple-1, was prepared.
An interesting thing is that at that time only 200 computers of Apple-1 were made and the price of one computer was kept at $666.66 (about ₹ 56,000). In today’s era, if any of these computers is found in perfect condition, its value runs into crores of rupees.
old auction records
Auction organization RR Auction says that in the last few years the demand for old things related to Apple has increased a lot. For example, a small business card signed by Steve Jobs was sold for around ₹15 crore ($181,000), and an old manual of Apple’s first computer has also been auctioned for millions of rupees.
In fact, this check is not just a piece of paper, but a proof of the great beginning that started from a small garage and which later laid the foundation of the world’s largest tech company.
