Rare Signed Polaroid of a Young Steve Jobs Sells for $12,500

Aug 26, 2024

A vintage Polaroid photograph of a young man with dark hair wearing a plaid shirt. The background shows a window with partially closed curtains. The handwritten text below the image reads "Steve Jobs.

RR Auction held an Apple-themed auction last week focused on the legendary late Steve Jobs and Apple’s role in the computer revolution. The auction achieved a total of $983,096 in sales.

Among the lots are some fascinating photographic pieces of Apple history, including three Apple-1 prototype Polaroid pictures that were given to Paul Terrell of the Byte Shop in 1976. The three photos were part of Jobs’ pitch to Terrell. The pitch was ultimately successful and earned Jobs and Apple their first large sale — 50 “cash on delivery” orders of the Apple-1. Without this business deal, Apple may have been dead on arrival.

Three overlapping Polaroid photos of vintage computer setups. One photo shows a monochrome monitor displaying code, another displays a close-up of computer components, and the third captures a broader view of an early computer system on a wooden desk.

Vintage computer with an exposed circuit board connected to a keyboard with a rainbow-colored ribbon cable, and an older CRT monitor screen in the background. The image has a Polaroid-style border, giving it a retro feel.

A vintage Amkey computer keyboard with exposed circuitry lies on a wooden surface. The keyboard is detached from the main unit, displaying various electronic components and connections. The image is framed with a faded Polaroid-style border.

A vintage computer setup with a monochrome CRT monitor displaying basic text and code. The screen reads "THIS IS THE APPLE COMPUTER -1." The scene has a warm, nostalgic glow, amplified by the Polaroid-style framing of the photograph.

The trio of Polaroids arrive at RR Auction via Terrell himself and show the prototype Apple-1 board. The ultra-rare photos sold for $54,904.

Another photo-themed lot includes Steve Jobs’ original NeXT identification badge photo alongside eight Polaroids of NeXT’s founding employees. Each identifying photo is signed — lending them genuine utility as an ID badge. The lot sold for $12,501.

A green binder holds four Polaroid photos with handwritten names on them: "George Crow," "Rod Holt," "Susan Kare," and "Steve Jobs." The photos show individual portraits of each person on the right page of the open binder.

A photo album page with three empty black Polaroid slots on the left and four Polaroid photos on the right. The photos on the right show four individuals with handwritten names underneath: Tom Carlisle, Barc Blumberg, Lynn Takahashi, and Bud Tribble.

An original satin-finish 8 x 10-inch press photo of Jobs in 1992 sold for $275. The print, captured by John Vorhees for The Advocate newspaper, includes editorial markings.

A black and white photograph of a man in a suit and tie, standing and leaning on a railing inside a building. The man's name, "Jobs, Steven," is written at the bottom of the image.

Jobs isn’t the only portrait subject in the recent auction. A signed photo of current Apple CEO Tim Cook with famed musician Dave Grohl, who also signed the photo, sold for $2,145.

Two men are smiling and looking at an iPhone. The man on the left has short gray hair and glasses, while the man on the right has long dark hair and tattoos on his arms. Both have autographed the image. They are in a setting that appears to be a tech event or gathering.

An Apple QuickTake 100 digital camera even made it into the mix. Released in 1994, the QuickTake 100 wasn’t just Apple’s first digital camera, it was also one of the first digital cameras available to consumers in general. The lot sold for just $330, which seems like a pretty solid deal. Although, the camera is in “untested condition,” so someone took a bit of a gamble on it.

An Apple QuickTake 100 digital camera with accessories, including a camera strap, a detachable lens cover, an adapter, a cable, two floppy disks, and user manuals laid out on a white surface.

In total, there were 175 lots on offer, and the most expensive item sold was an Apple-1 computer from Apple employee Dana Reddington. It sold for an eye-watering $315,914.

The computer comes directly from Reddington’s collection and includes a detailed letter of provenance.

A vintage computer motherboard with numerous microchips and capacitors is placed on a white surface. In the foreground, a black and white photograph of two people stands upright, leaning against the motherboard.

“This Apple-1 computer was restored and brought to an operational state in June 2024 by Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen,” writes RR Auction. Prior to this auction, the precise Apple-1 board was “undiscovered,” per the auction house, and is now logged as #104 in the Apple-1 Registry.

There are many other lots sure to excite Apple and technology history enthusiasts, including an Apple Lisa computer and printer combo that sold for $81,251, a Steve Jobs signed check that predated the official formation of the company that someone bought for $66,844, and a sealed 8GB iPhone launch unit that sold for $25,460. The complete auction results are available on the RR Auction website.

Image credits: RR Auction

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apple, auction, history, polaroid, rareitems, signedphoto, stevejobs

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