The legendary Twiggy Mac can be yours for roughly the cost of an apartment

Oct 31, 2013 13:39 GMT  ·  By

Vintage Mac collector Adam Goolevitch has decided to let go of a prototype Macintosh, likely the last working computer of its kind. Also known as the Twiggy Mac, the system has the signatures of the "Macintosh Division" molded on the inside of the cover, including from Jobs and Woz.

The auction hopes to fetch anywhere between €40,000 to €70,000 ($55,000 to $96,000), while the starting price has been set at €25,000 ($34,000) and includes a number of Twiggy diskettes which still have MacPaint and MacAuthor on them.

Other diskettes have pre-release versions of the Macintosh operating system on them. Goolevitch also throws in a letter of authenticity by Dan Kottke, an iconic member of the Mac team at Apple.

“The computer and keyboard offered here are authentic and original, dated 1982/83. They were acquired together and complete and have not been pieced together from miscellaneous parts,” reads the item’s description.

“This is an extremely rare machine in fully working condition, this is one of only two worldwide existing examples known today.”

Steve Jobs is said to have ordered to destroy all prototypes, likely so that others wouldn’t copy Apple’s work.

Set to go on auction on November 16, the system could fetch far more than the conservative price put forth by Team Auction Breker.

Goolevitch explains: “Several people I have spoken with have thought that the Twiggy Mac could well exceed the Apple 1 on the auction block, including [one of] Woz’s close friends.”

“The low reserve price and auction estimate is due to the fact that Breker was confident of its realistic value, as no Twiggy Mac prototype computer like it has ever sold before,” Goolevitch says.

Those interested in the story of the Twiggy Mac, including more technical details, can visit www.twiggymac.com.