ARTICLE: Apple II serial #2000 being auctioned on eBay

["Bryan Villados" <news002@macgeek.org>]

http://www.macgeek.org/

12/11/2002 - Oldest known Apple II up for bid on eBay

I was surprised to see this particular specimen of Apple II put up for
auction.

The seller of this item is Ernest, which is what we know of him as on
comp.sys.apple2. He has one of the most awesome computer collections around.
Besides Apple II computers, he also collects Apple II clone models,
including the Orange 2 and the Multitech MPF II. Recently, he's run into a
financial situation, and therefore is forced to sell some of his valuable
items, including this very Apple II.

As a true Apple collector, he's done his research, finding out exactly how
this particular specimen fits into the scheme of things. What he's
discovered is that not only is this item older than the Apple II displayed
at the Smithsonian Institute, it is even older than the Apple II Steve
Wozniak currently owns in his collection.

This is by far the oldest unit I've ever seen of the Apple II line. The one
thing that sticks out for me is the power supply. The very early Apple II
models used a toggle-type SPST switch, and this is the first time I've ever
seen one. The keyboard is also original, with the power light raised way
above the shell. The inside of the unit is very clean! Ernest pulled out
every moveable part and cleaned it, along with every key on the keyboard.
The logic board is very low on the totem pole, hand written serial number
2000. The logic board, however, has been upgraded to the Autostart ROM,
enabling the computer to boot into BASIC instead of the system monitor.
Other upgrades have been made to unit via add-ons, including the Apple Disk
II controller and disk drives, which weren't even in existence at the time
of this unit's release. And, the original Apple II Reference Manual, also
known as the "Red Book" is part of the bid, and it's in beautiful condition.

Sources have mentioned that this particular specimen could reach a price as
high as $10,000.00, a number that is usually reserved for an Apple Lisa 1 or
a broken Apple 1. However, IMHO, the Lisa 1 is only worth that much because
of its scarcity in the collecting market. The Apple II, however, represents
something totally different. Besides being very rare, it also represents the
first fully-built system in its market. There are many firsts that was set
by the Apple II. Because this particular specimen is among the first to be
built, it brings this unit that much closer to the roots of Apple Computer,
and the microcomputer industry in general. If you read the book Apple
Confidential, you'll see a stack of the very first roll-out of empty Apple
II shells ever made. This very unit's shell could be one of those shells!
Just think about it!!!!! My imagination is endless with this unit.

In the very near future, I plan on creating a photo archive of this unit,
and hopefully will post a Q&A session with Ernest on how he obtained the
Apple II, and his thoughts on the whole collecting scheme of things.

--- Bryan