In 1976, the year Apple was founded, Steve Jobs signed one of the first-ever company checks for a modest sum of US$175. Boston-based RR Auction is now selling the pristine copy, which is expected to fetch US$25,000 nearly five decades later.
The check, which measures six by three inches, was filled out in type and personally signed by Jobs, with the payment going to consulting firm Crampton, Remke & Miller on July 8, 1976. A key detail is that the check uses the firm’s first official address at “770 Welch Rd., Ste. 154, Palo Alto.”
According to the auctioneer, this address was of an answering service and mailbox that Apple used while the company was still operating out of Jobs’ family garage. It’s speculated that the pioneer may have hired the business consulting firm to help it grow its first product, the Apple-1.
“It’s a highly desirable, essentially flawless check from a central moment in the history of modern tech,” remarked RR Auction’s Executive Vice President, Bobby Livingston.
Alongside the check, a business card from the 1990s mogul is up for grabs. This piece describes Jobs as the “Chairman and CEO” of NeXT Computer, Inc—the company he founded when he was initially forced out of Apple in 1985.