A piece of Silicon Valley history—the sixth-ever check drawn on Apple Computer’s first bank account, filled out and signed by Steve Jobs and bearing the names of the company’s three original co-founders—has sold for US$87,940 in RR Auction’s “Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution” event.
The Wells Fargo temporary check, dated March 28, 1976, was completed and signed “steven jobs” and made payable to Pacific Telephone for $47.50. Significantly, the reverse side includes a teller’s notation: “DBA Apple Computer Co., Steven Jobs & Stephen Wozniak & Ronald Wayne, 770 Welch Rd., Palo Alto.” Including all three names—Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne—makes this a singular surviving document capturing the fleeting original Apple partnership.
Marked as check “No. 6,” the artifact predates Apple’s official founding by just four days. On April 1, 1976, Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne formally signed their partnership agreement—an arrangement that would last less than two weeks for Wayne, who sold his 10% share back for a total of $2,300, forfeiting what would have become a multibillion-dollar stake.
“This is one of the most historically significant Apple checks we’ve ever handled,” says Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction. “It ties together the garage-era mythos with the real-world business of paying bills, while preserving in ink the only three names ever officially connected to Apple’s founding.”
The check also underscores the company’s humble beginnings: Wozniak had just completed work on his pioneering Apple-1 computer design, and Jobs was preparing to market it—mere days before Apple Computer, Inc. was born.
Other Auction Highlights
- A rare factory-sealed first-generation Apple iPhone 4GB sold for $81,989.
- A 1976 Apple Computer Company check signed by Steve Jobs and made out to IBM sold for $45,125.
- An original ENIAC “Decade Counter” section sold for $40,514 against an estimate of more than $3,000.
- A sealed first-generation Apple iPod Classic sold for $40,264 against an estimate of $20,000.
- A sealed first-generation Apple iPhone 8GB sold for $19,899.
- A set of seven Steve Jobs Apple business cards from 1997–1999, listing his title as “Interim CEO” and “iCEO,” sold for $16,643.
- A Douglas Engelbart X-Y axis three-button computer mouse sold for $13,728.
- A pair of Apple rainbow sunglasses custom made for Steve Wozniak circa 1979 sold for $11,688.
RRAuction’s Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution sale ran from July 18 to August 21, 2025. For full results and details on upcoming sales, visit www.rrauction.com.
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