When the Apple I computer was first introduced in 1976, only 200 models were ever made, and sold at the retail price of $666.66, tax included, and were only available until they were discontinued from store shelves in 1977. It was the only personal computer ever to come with a fully assembled motherboard, making it ready to use straight from the box, provided the user supplied a keyboard and a power supply.
One of these valuable computers, with only 8 kilobytes of ram, numbered No. 82 ... and one thousand times slower than the Apple iPad, along with an undated letter to its original purchaser, and signed by Steven Jobs, one of Apple's computer co-founders and current CEO of Apple Inc., sold Nov. 23 at Christies Auction House in New York for $212,267. Readers, more of these valuable computers are still out there, I would like to believe, maybe somewhere out there in Wood or Washington County.
Affidavit sells for $32,000 at auction
A first person account of the sinking of the Titantic recently sold at auction for $32,000.
The affidavit, signed by Laura Francatelli, who got away in a lifeboat with her two prominent employers, topped its pre-sale estimate of $24,000.
A press release sent to me by the auction house that sold the signed affidavit, states that Francatelli spoke of hearing an awful rumbling as the Titantic sank in the icy North Atlantic Ocean April 14, 1912.
She and her employers Sir Cosmos Duff-Gordon and his socialite wife, Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon, fled in a rowboat that would transport 40 people, but only 12 on board.
She went on to state in the affidavit that Sir Comos gave the crewman who were in the lifeboat a tremendous amount of money to keep quiet about the ordeal, and to get him quickly away from the sinking vessel without returning to help those who were drowning.
Francatelli, who was Lady Duff's personal secretary, described in the affidavit, that it was a scene of utter terror as they tried to get as far away as possibile from the Titantic. She stated, "we kept on rowing and stopping and rowing again she wrote, then came the screams and cries from 1,517 that drowned."
Francattelli died in 1967. The affidavit has been in a private collection since shortly after her death.
Readers, another valuable piece of Rookwood pottery has been found in Washington County. Tell you all about it in next week's column. Keep those letters coming.
Larry Koon is the author of several price guide books on antiques and collectibles. His column appears every Monday on Life. Send letters to Treasure in the Attic, c/o The Marietta Times, 700 Channel Lane, Marietta 45750; or e-mail him at koonantiques@yahoo.com. When writing, send a complete description of the item, along with size, color, any markings on the item along with condition the item is in, and how the item was obtained, and any other information. If possible, send a photograph. Letters will be answered through this column.
