This Crappy Old Computer Is Worth $200,000 So Go See If It’s Gathering Dust In Your Grandma’s Basement

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My grandparents never had anything fun in their basement whenever we visited, just grimy carpet from the 60’s and a shitty little t.v. with dials on the front. It’s not like the bar I set for “fun” is exactly high either — throw me a ball of yarn and I’ll pretend I’m a cat for 20 minutes, just anything to keep me from being bored. Then again, if my grandparents had actually owned a vintage Apple I computer worth $200,000 and let it gather dust in their basement, I probably (read: 100% would not) have seen its value and would’ve considered it old and shitty, just like them (JUST KIDDING I LOVE YOU GUYS DON’T WRITE ME OUTTA YOUR WILL PLZ).

Yep, you read that correctly: I am a horrible grandchild and a vintage Apple I computer is worth $200,000. How do we know this? Because some poor old lady in the South Bay area junked one without knowing how valuable it was. Silly old people!

A South Bay recycling firm is looking for a woman who, in early April, dropped off boxes of electronics that she had cleaned out from her house after her husband died. About two weeks later, the firm, Clean Bay Area, discovered inside one of the boxes a rare find: a vintage Apple I, one of only about 200 first-generation desktop computers put together by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne in 1976.

The recycling firm sold the Apple I this month for $200,000 to a private collection, Vice President Victor Gichun said. And now, because company policy is to split proceeds 50-50 with the donor, he’s looking for the mystery woman who refused to get a receipt or leave her name.(via)

All the woman has to do in order to claim her $100,00 is show up, since Gichun claims that he remembers her. And because Gichun is a smart cookie — aka not you — he declined to give out any further information that could identify the woman, because we all know your first thought after reading all that was “I wonder how much a grandma wig + costume costs” and no, that’s not going to work. Dickbag.

[H/T Mercury News]