In the previous year, a $9.18 cheque from Apple Computer, bearing Steve Jobs’ signature from 1976, was auctioned for $55,000, approximately Rs 45 lakh
Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, wrote a $4 cheque in 1976, featuring his signature, and it recently fetched $36,000 or Rs 30 lakh in an auction, as reported by The Guardian. Issued to electronics retailer Radio Shack, the cheque was written on an “Apple Computer Company” account at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Los Altos, California. This sale adds to the increasing market demand for Jobs’ signature and memorabilia.
This is not the first instance of Steve Jobs’ signature being auctioned at high prices. In the previous year, a $9.18 Apple Computer cheque signed by Jobs in 1976 was sold for $55,000, approximately Rs 45 lakh. In the same year, another cheque of $13.86 to Elmar Electronics fetched $37,564 (approx Rs 31 lakh).
Jobs’ signature on a job application from 1973, seeking employment as an “electronics tech or design engineer,” was sold for $174,757 (approx Rs 1.5 crore). It is considered one of Jobs’ earliest known signatures. When he was 21, Jobs signed the original Apple founding contract alongside Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. This contract was sold by Sotheby’s in 2011 for $1,594,500 (approx Rs 13 crore).
Beyond signatures, other belongings of Steve Jobs have also been auctioned at high prices. The original Apple computer, known as Apple-1 and hand-built by Jobs and Wozniak 47 years ago, was purchased for $500,000 in 2021. Encased in Koa wood, a richly patinated wood from Hawaii, this unit is one of only six known examples of the Koa wood case in existence.
In November 2022, a pair of old Birkenstock sandals owned and worn by Steve Jobs was sold for $200,000 (approx Rs 1.64 crore), marking the highest price ever paid for a pair of sandals at auction.
