Welcome back to the second part of our tech collecting timeline.
We're well into the golden age now, with computers becoming available to ordinary consumers.
It's also a period that really excites collectors.
These are items - and company's - that still have a resonance today.
You'll soon see why.
And we end with a landmark sale.
Here we go then.
The Altair 8800 was an early success, even though it demanded quite a lot from its buyers. Image courtesy of Christie's.
1975 - the Altair 8800
Last September, in the Paul G Allen sale Christie’s listed an Altair with a top estimate of $5,000. It made over $56,000. Another made over $17,000 against a $5,000 top estimate.
The Altair was described as “the first commercially successful home computer” though it wasn’t the machine that made computers the stuff of everyday life for most people. It was sold as a kit to most buyers, and after it was shown on a magazine cover shifted 4,000 units very quickly. Altairs are very collectible now.
1976 - Mattel releases Autorace
This is the first hand-held game console. It’s obviously a very simple game. And that might be reflected in its relatively good value today. It can be found listed online for just over £100. You’ll probably need prototypes to make big money. The hand-held monster it created though - most notably the Nintendo Gameboy - can see very high prices. A Gameboy game sold for over $80,000 in February 2025, with the added attraction of being a Pokemon title.
April 1, 1976 - Apple-1 launched by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
For most people this launch is the one that fires the gun on the home computing revolution that we still live in today.
Apple became the world’s first trillion dollar company in 2018 (by market value). And it started with this machine, made in a garage.
The company is by some distance the most collectible current tech and Steve Jobs (who died in 2011) the most collectible single figure.
An Apple-1 sold for $571,000 this month. Machines from the first batch are closely tracked and routinely sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
People around the world went wild for this game. Space Invaders was launched in Japan.
April 1978 - Space Invaders released in Japan by Taito
Gaming became a home hobby, but much of the early running was in publicly accessible machines that became a global craze - an early signal of what was to come.
Space Invaders was the first game in the world to have continuous gameplay. And it created a whole style of game.
You can buy your own working Space Invaders machine today for under £5,000.
1983 - The Apple LISA is launched
The LISA (Local Integrated Software Architecture) machine was a breakthrough and a failure. The machine’s graphical user interface was new to home computers, but the machine didn’t break through to business users as intended.
The following year’s Apple Macintosh was to become the machine that defined this era of Apple.
That makes the LISA a unicorn and very valuable. One has sold for $882,000.
1983 - Gavilan SC launched
As we’re focusing on firsts here, it’s only right to include the Gavila, which is the first laptop in the world, with a flipping screen somewhat like the one I’m looking at now and a touchpad rather than a mouse.
They might have invented a style, but the Gavilan version was itself a failure, in large part because of early technical and production issues.
They didn’t sell very well and the company was no longer trading as soon as 1985.
You can find them online now for around $1,000.
The Gavilan looks pretty good, but it wasn't a hit. Image by RdC5 at Wikimedia Commons.
June 29, 2007 - iPhone launched
One of the most famous product launches in history opened up a new age of communications.
iPhones were sold in huge numbers, so you’ll need well-preserved rarities to make much money. Like the 2007 boxed version that made over $190,000 in 2023. The 4GB memory model wasn’t successful so is relatively rare. So far, it’s the most valuable iPhone sold, but things will not stay that way for long.
January 27, 2010 - iPad launched
First generation iPads (in good condition and ideally unsealed) can make thousands of pounds at auction. In time, this will surely rise.
Thus far, the most valuable machine is one with a close link to Steve Jobs. His own prototype, signed, made $37,500 in 2023, and when it is sold again will no doubt go for much, much more.
An Apple-1 sold at the Paul G Allen sales. It made nearly $1 million. Image courtesy of Christie's.
September 2024 - The Paul G Allen sale Firsts: The History of Computing from the Paul G. Allen Collection
Paul G Allen was one of the founders of Microsoft. That brought him enormous wealth. He spent a lot of that money in the way that generations of other rich men have - largely on art.
But, he also built a large and impactful collection of computer innovations.
Their sale, by Christie’s, last September is a major milestone in tech collecting.
Many of the high water mark prices we’ve listed in this piece are from this sale: the Apple LISA, the Altairs.
Selling a big collection in one go, with a hugely prestigious auction house and absolutely tons of publicity, is bound to have an upward pressure on prices.
Will they be matched again?
That’s the big question for tech collectors now.
I think they will.
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