Vintage Apple Computers, Including Original 1984 Macintosh, Apple II Plus, to Go on Auction in March

A collection of nearly half-a-century's worth of Apple computers that traces the evolution of one of the world's most influential companies is going under the hammer in California next month.

Aficionados of Steve Jobs' groundbreaking firm will be able to get their hands on a suite of devices that showcase how Apple became a household name.

"The Hanspeter Luzi Vintage Apple Archive" contains more than 500 computers and Apple gizmos gathered over decades by a Swiss teacher and entrepreneur.

"All the products before us have really shaped the cultural zeitgeist, and led a cultural shift in the way we work, learn and operate and communicate, and even spend our leisure time," said Erik Rosenblum of Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills.

"We're in an interesting time... right now, where we went from the everyday household use of an Apple computer to now a historical artifact."

The collection includes a 1979-1982 Apple II Plus, complete with monitor, disk drives and game paddles, as well as an original 1984 Macintosh.

"All these pieces are the grandfathers of our iPhones and iPads and iMacs," said Rosenblum.

"It's very cool to see the evolution."

The auction, on March 30, comes after an original 2007 iPhone that had never been taken out of its box sold to a collector for more than $63,000 (roughly Rs. 5,214,000).

In 2021, an original Apple computer, hand-built by company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, went under the hammer in the US.

The functioning Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today's sleek chrome-and-glass MacBooks, was expected to fetch up to $600,000 (roughly Rs. 4.96 crore) at an auction in California. A working Apple-1 that came to the market in 2014 was sold by Bonhams for more than $900,000 (roughly Rs. 7.44 crore).

Apple raced to success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but foundered after the departure of Jobs and Wozniak. The company was reinvigorated in the late 1990s, and Jobs was brought back into the fold as the chief executive. He oversaw the launch of the iPod, and later the world-changing iPhone, before his death in 2011.