1987 Translucent Mac SE
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APPRAISER:
When you pulled this out of its carry-on case, it elicited oohs and ahs from everybody around. Tell us a little bit about this.
GUEST:
Well, a friend of my husband's gave this to him in the early '90s. And he had worked for Apple Computer since the beginning. And we did not have a computer, so he gave us this. And what he said is that he worked on this project, and so the folks who worked on it were each given the computer in this clear acrylic case. But other than that, I don't know anything about it.
APPRAISER:
It's a Mac SE from 1987.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
But it doesn't look like every other Mac SE from 1987, because it has this incredible translucent case. And you can see all the inner workings of the computer. And it kind of reminds you of a computer that would come around ten, 12 years later, the iMac, with the transparent case. But much earlier. Just amazing-- an amazing piece of industrial design.
GUEST:
Oh, thank you.
APPRAISER:
We're dealing with a time, now, when there's a new frontier of collectibles, things that the kids and young adults of the '80s were playing with and using. And boy, does this fit into a category like that.
GUEST:
Oh, great.
APPRAISER:
A certain limited number of them were given to employees, people who worked on this project.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The fact that you knew one of them, and you actually obtained one, boy, the provenance is impeccable.
GUEST:
Oh, cool. Oh, that's great.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, it's wonderful. This is a museum-type piece.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
And as such... and I wouldn't insure it for anything less than $10,000.
GUEST:
No way-- are you kidding me?
APPRAISER:
It really appreciated.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, oh.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, I think they sold for a couple thousand dollars originally, but of course, this was a special one.
GUEST:
Oh, you're kidding. Get out of here. Oh, my gosh. That'll pay somebody's tuition for, like, a couple weeks.
Appraisal Details
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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