The "Hatfield" Apple-1 sold for $1,148,200 with the buyer's premium, a world auction record for a commercially sold Apple-1, according to Bonhams. Two bidders went back and forth for 28 minutes before the October 14 sale closed, well past the $500,000 to $800,000 estimate, MacRumors reports.
The story is the best part. Original owner Fred Hatfield complained to Apple that there wasn't any software for the machine, and Steve Jobs wrote back in 1978 offering an Apple II motherboard in exchange for the Apple-1 plus another $400. Hatfield said no and kept it. That letter came with the sale.
He later sold it privately for $40,000 while it needed repairs. The buyer restored it, got Steve Wozniak to sign the board, and set an auction record of about $686,000 in 2013. Prototypes still go higher, though. The "Celebration" board sold for $2.75 million in January.
— via MacRumors