Apple check No. 2, signed by Jobs and Woz, goes up for auction

By Ed Hardy • 11:40 am, July 31, 2023

A unique bit of Apple history just went up for auction: Apple Computer check “No. 2” signed by company co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Bidding for the $116.97 check is already up to more than $55,000.

A number of other rare Apple items are also up for sale, some signed by Jobs.

Steve Jobs’ signature is fairly rare because he generally refused to sign autographs. Collectors have to turn to business documents he signed. And there are not many better examples than this check filled out on March 19, 1976 — before the official founding of Apple Computer by a couple of weeks. The fledgling business was so new that this is a temporary check.

“This check for $116.97 to Ramlor, Inc. — a Palo Alto-area printed circuit board maker — likely represents payment for boards affiliated with the first Apple-1 Computers,” notes RR Auction, which is handling the sale.

“Between the exceptionally early date of this check, the payee as a PCB maker, and the fact that it is signed by the two figures that drove Apple’s initial success, this is an extraordinary, museum-quality piece of tech history,” says RR Auction.

The check isn’t the only rare Jobs-related item that just hit the auction block. A draft for an advertisement for the Apple-1 Computer in Steve Jobs’ handwriting is also on sale. It includes a pair of Polaroid pix of the early personal computer. The high bid is currently $17,270.

There’s also a page of notes for Astrochart, an astrology/horoscope application that Jobs worked on for Atari in the summer of 1975. The document is in Jobs’ hands writing but not signed.

Other documents up for bids are:

Signed documents aren‘t the only Apple-related items now available from RR Auction. There’s a fully operational Apple-1 with a handmade case and keyboard. It was signed by Wozniak, who likely assembled the circuit board.

And there’s a functional Apple Lisa, the computer that, while not successful, contributed to the creation of the Macintosh.

The “Apple, Jobs, and Computer Hardware” auction, featuring the ultra-rare Apple Computer check and other tech memorabilia, will conclude on August 24. Visit RR Auction for more details, or to put in a bid.