An original Apple computer as sold for $400,000 (£294,990) at auction in the United States.

Apple

Apple

The rare Hawaiian koa wood-cased Apple-1 - which was built by the tech giant's co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976 - is still functioning and one of only 200 made, while it was sold in kit form.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times before the auction, Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen said: "This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors.

"That really makes it exciting for a lot of people."

According to John Moran Auctioneers, the computer has only had two owners - a college professor, and the student he sold the machine to for $650.

As well as the computer itself, the sale came with user manuals and Apple software on two cassettes.

Meanwhile, the koa wood case was added by early computer retailer ByteShop, based in California, when they took a deliver of around 50 of the Apple-1s.

It's thought there are around 20 Apple-1 computers still able to function left in the world.

However, the newly auctioned machine isn't the highest-grossing, as a working version went for $905,000 in New York seven years ago.


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