TIME Companies

Woman Who Recycled Rare Apple Computer Has $100,000 Waiting for Her

original apple 1 computer
Tony Avelar—EPA An original Apple computer, now known as the Apple-1, which was designed and hand-built in 1976 by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is shown at a press preview at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., on June 24, 2013.

"We really couldn't believe our eyes. We thought it was fake”

A Silicon Valley recycling firm is offering $100,000 to a woman who discarded a rare Apple 1 computer after it sold for $200,000 at a private auction.

The computer was hidden in several boxes donated by a woman who was cleaning out her garage after her husband died, CleanBayArea Vice President Victor Gichun told NBC Bay Area. She neither requested a tax receipt, nor left her contact information, and the boxes went unchecked for weeks.

“We really couldn’t believe our eyes. We thought it was fake,” Gichun said of the find.

CleanBayArea is looking to find the woman in order to evenly split the proceeds from the sale with her. Apple 1 was the original computer built by co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1976; only around 200 were made.

Read next: One of Apple’s First Computers Just Sold for $905,000

Tap to read full story

Your browser is out of date. Please update your browser at http://update.microsoft.com


YOU BROKE TIME.COM!

Dear TIME Reader,

As a regular visitor to TIME.com, we are sure you enjoy all the great journalism created by our editors and reporters. Great journalism has great value, and it costs money to make it. One of the main ways we cover our costs is through advertising.

The use of software that blocks ads limits our ability to provide you with the journalism you enjoy. Consider turning your Ad Blocker off so that we can continue to provide the world class journalism you have become accustomed to.

The TIME Team