A Prototype of the First Macintosh Personal Computer is Sold for $150,000

On December 4, 2019 Bonham's in New York sold a prototype of the Apple Macintosh Personal Computer for $150,075 including buyer's premium. The computer, which was one of only two surviving prototypes of the first Macintosh, was contained in a pre-production plastic moulded housing, and incorporated a 5.25 Apple proprietary twiggy drive. This drive, which Apple had previously used in the Lisa, was replaced by the Sony 3.5 inch disc drive when the first Macintoshes went into production in January 1984

The auction price for the Macintosh prototype was a new record for a personal computer other than an Apple 1.

The machine had an excellent provenance. It was originally issued to Encore Systems, and used in the early development of MacWrite. It was owned by the company's former CEO and President since the 1980s. It was exhibited (and operated) at the Mac@30 Anniversary Celebration held on January 25, 2014 at the Flint Center in Cupertino, CA.