According to USA Today, a woman recently dropped off an extremely rare original Apple 1 computer at a San Francisco recycling center, a computer that was later sold at auction for $200,000. The original desktop computer was one of only 200 Apple 1s ever produced.
The recycling firm that sold the computer has announced that it wants to find and reimburse the unidentified woman. CleanBayArea’s policy is to split the proceeds evenly with the donor, meaning that the woman would be entitled to $100,000, or 10 Apple Watches, for her donation. The woman did not leave her name, collect a tax-deductible receipt, or provide any other means of identification. Apparently the recently widowed woman was motivated to clean out her garage following her husband’s death. Her inability to recognize the value of the machine is understandable, given that to the untrained eye, the circuit boards and chips screwed into wood panels easily pass for useless junk.
“I ask this lady, please come over to our warehouse…and we’ll give you a check for $100,000,” Victor Gichun, CleanBayArea’s vice president, says. So if you happen to know any recently widowed women living in the Bay Area, ask them if they’ve cleaned out their garage recently. Maybe you can get a finder’s fee.