A rare Apple Macintosh 1983 is up for auction

A truly rare lot has entered the auction — a prototype of the Apple Macintosh computer of 1983 release.

The device is unique in that, by order of Steve Jobs, all similar prototypes were to be destroyed. This example, serial number M0001, will be auctioned at Bonhams in New York on October 23.

It is one of the few surviving pre-production examples equipped with the 5.25-inch Twiggy disk drive that Apple  refused due to low reliability. Production Mac models released in 1984 already used a 3.5-inch disk drive.

It is also important that this lot has been preserved in perfect and working condition. It comes with unique accessories such as a keyboard with a handwritten serial number, a prototype Apple M01000 mouse with a separate connector, and a Twiggy diskette with Mac Word. The computer is running an unfinished version of the operating system.

The final price of the lot at the auction is expected to be between $80,000 and $120,000, but experts believe that the final sum could exceed those expectations and set a new record for sold Apple computers.