Apple sold by Jobs fetches $365,000 at auction

A 1976 Apple computer sold by Steve Jobs from his parents' garage fetched $365,000 at auction in New York on Thursday, falling short of its pre-sale estimate in a competitive computer relic market.

Christie's says the Apple-1 is the only surviving such computer documented to have been sold directly by the late Apple founder to a customer from the garage in Los Altos, California.

A spokeswoman told AFP that it sold for $365,000 but was unable to give any immediate details about the identity of the buyer.

Christie's had previously valued the computer at $400,000 to $600,000, highest pre-sale estimate for an Apple-1 at auction.

The Apple-1, the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold, is considered a vanguard of the personal computer revolution.

Prices have been on the rise for relics of computing history, which have been snapped up by institutions.

In October, an Apple-1 built by Jobs's business partner Steve Wozniak sold for a staggering $905,000 at a Bonhams auction in New York, bought by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

In 2013, Christie's sold another 1976 Apple-1 for $387,750 and in 2010 another for $212,267 in London.