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About that Apple 1 that set a new auction record (with video)

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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May 26, 2013, 7:33 AM ET

FORTUNE — A rare working Apple 1 sold at auction Saturday for a record $650,000, according to the BBC, $668,000 according to the Associated Press, and $671,400 according to the Voice of America.  (Actual price: 516,000 euros including all fees and taxes, according to the auctioneer, or $667,472 at Saturday’s exchange rate.)

Engadget said it was sold by Sotheby’s in Germany. The Phoenix Business Journal had it in Berlin. (Actual auction house: Auction Team Brecker in Cologne.)

The New York Times‘ Steve Lohr reported Thursday that the original owner was Fred (“Scrap Iron”) Hatfield, who played third base for the Red Sox in the early 1950s.

In fact, it was owned by a different Fred Hatfield altogether.

That Fred Hatfield, Lohr reported Saturday, sold it for $40,000 to young man from Texas in the software business. He fixed up, got it working, had Woz sign it, and brought it to Brecker wrapped in a blanket.

The buyer, according to auctioneer Uwe Brecker, was a wealthy entrepreneur from the Far East who prefers to remain anonymous.

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By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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