In 2004 author Bob Luther noticed a tiny classified advertisement in the Washington Post newspaper, for a sheriff's sale. The sheriff was preparing to auction goods seized from a successful dot com entrepreneur who had fled the United State. Despite having sold his company for one hundred million dollars, he had failed to make payments on his private jet, which led to the seizure of his assets. The ad indicated the auction would include the first Segway ever built, and the first Apple computer ever sold. Luther had less then a week to do research, to figure out if the items were the real thing! The story takes you to the auction and then on a journey to find out the real story on this 38 year old machine. Friends and co-workers of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from the days of Apple being in the garage are interviewed and share their stories. The elusive machine, the Apple-1 is one of 200 built in the earliest days of Apple Computer. Today they are rare and highly sought after by collectors at auction worldwide. The book shares stories of those collectors. What starts off as a little story about an old and very outdated computer grows to include a historical account of the early days of what has become one of the worlds most successful and valuable companies. This book presents that beginning time on a very personal level, and with a cast of colorful characters.
About the Author: Bob Luther started collecting 'stuff' when he was young boy. With five brothers and sisters at home, at age ten he installed a lock on his bedroom door to help protect his collections. Anything that passed thru his hands was subjected to the question "could this be worth something some day?" If so, it went in a drawer and was often forgotten about for years. In his early teens, he started to buy vintage cars...a 1962 Corvette before he even had a drivers license. In high school, he drove a 'cherry' old Mercedes sedan and then a 1963 white with red leather Jaguar E type roadster. One of Bob's best finds was a 1953 Chrysler limousine, sitting forlorn in a yard in one of the worst sections of southeast Washington D.C. But the seller, a former Mopar mechanic, represented that it had originally been an Eisenhower Presidential limousine, at the White House. Luther tracked down an old timer who'd been in the government affairs office of Chrysler for many years, but was told the corporate records had not been retained going back that far. "Hold it", the fellow said, "what did you say that serial number was?", he asked Luther. And sure enough, at the back of an old manilla folder, he found a document that proved the car was the real thing. Over the years, Luther has continued to buy antiques and collectibles and attend auctions... but the best part has always been the 'hunt' for the next item, especially if it seems just out of reach.