Many enthusiasts and collectors often look for items that have served in a company's development process and have a history attached to them. Such seems to be the case of a very dated version of the Apple Macintosh prototype. It is considered rare and iconic, featuring the historic "Twiggy disk" drive, which is grabbing quite the attention. The rare artifact is now set on being auctioned and might be here to break the auction records due to the high bids from collectors.
Iconic Apple Macintosh prototype featuring the original Twiggy drive is set for auction and is here to break auction records
A rare Apple Macintosh prototype, model # M0001 from 1983, is set to be auctioned at Bonhams in New York on 23 October 2024 via News Atlas. It is one of the few remaining pre-production units that are known for featuring the 5.25-inch floppy disk drive referred to as the "Twiggy" drive that was ultimately scrapped due to its reliability issues.
It is said that Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs ordered for the pre-production units to be destroyed before the commercial release, so the Macs that came out in 1984 did not feature the drive and instead came with a 3.5-inch floppy disk that was more compact and reliable. The twiggy drive remained exclusive to the surviving prototypes of that time.
Despite Steve Jobs's order to destroy units, the particular model survived and is, in fact, in great condition, making it a rare piece that served to be a vital part of Apple's development days and history. The prototype comes with a set of unique accessories, including a keyboard that comes with a handwritten serial number, an Apple M01000 mouse prototype with a distinct connector, and a dual-density Twiggy diskette called Mac Word.
Another interesting aspect of the prototype is the early software version, which is an unfinished version of the Macintosh application. This gives us a glimpse into Apple's operation system in its initial years and adds to the computer's historical significance. What makes this even better is that Steve Jobs himself did some of the system development and notifications.
The upcoming auction's final bid is expected to be between $80,000 and $120,000 owing to the rarity of the Macintosh prototype packed with the Twiggy drive. However, the experts in the category suggest the final price would exceed expectations and, in fact, break all auction records for all the sold Apple computers. This expert opinion is backed up by a 2019 auction in which a similar Twiggy model set a new record by being sold for $150,075.
The auction will be held from October 13th to October 23rd, and the fully functional and rare piece has our hopes high in terms of breaking final price records.
