This Rare Steve Jobs Business Card Could Be Yours for Only $82,500
Credit: RR Auctions
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A new piece of Apple memorabilia has shown up on the auction block in the form of a 1983 business card signed by the legendary late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs.
The card comes from Jobs’ initial stint at Apple when he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors (as shown on the card). That year would have been when John Sculley joined Apple, taking over from Mike Markkula, who served as CEO from 1981 to 1983. Despite founding Apple in 1977, Jobs didn’t actually become the Chief Executive until his return in 1997.
The card comes from a time when Jobs was developing the Apple Lisa, a year before the very first Macintosh would be unveiled. It’s signed in black ink by Steve Jobs and shows the iconic Apple “byte” rainbow logo of that era.
Apple’s mercurial founder was quite selective about signing memorabilia, which makes this particular card exceptionally rare. Nevertheless, it’s the second one we’ve seen go up for auction in less than a year. A similar one from the same era sold for $181,183 last March. With counterfeit memorabilia a big problem, auction houses like RR Auctions must take meticulous steps to date and authenticate anything they put on the block. Legitimate Steve Jobs-signed business cards are hard to come by.
Steve Jobs’s Apple Computer business cards from the 1983 period remain elusive and in high demand for serious collectors of tech and computer history; of the 15 total Jobs business cards that RR Auction has offered, just four have dated to this timeframe, and only one was signed. This lot represents our second signed 1983 example and exists as one of a mere handful of Jobs-signed Apple Computer business cards—from any period—that has successfully passed PSA/DNA authentication. A centerpiece Jobs-signed artifact and an opportunity not to be missed or soon replicated.
RR Auctions
This particular card has already reached $75,000 with 13 bids. The next bid increment is $82,500. Unlike previous auctions that have focused on Apple or tech memorabilia, this item is part of a Remarkable Rarities collection the auction house says is made up of “80 elusive and extraordinary items, representing some of the rarest and most remarkable things we’ve seen all year.”
Most of the auction consists of signed historical letters and photographs from such other luminaries as George Washington, Neil Armstrong, and Jack Kerouac. There are also several items signed by The Beatles, including a rare album and three checks.
Perhaps the most interesting item, next to Jobs’ business card, is an actual World War II German Enigma I Cipher Machine. It’s also the only item for a higher bid than the Apple business card right now. The Enigma machine is estimated to go for $200,000, while the Jobs card has already exceeded its $60,000 estimate. In distant third and fourth places are an Albert Einstein Iconic Signed ‘Tongue’ Photograph ($33,275), and a historic letter signed by President George Washington acknowledging the Senate’s message on his re-election ($30,597).
Among the items from significant historical figures is another tech-related piece: A SpaceX replica helmet signed by Elon Musk. Bids on that have only reached $2,338, likely because the SpaceX founder is still alive.
The Remarkable Rarities auction runs until February 20, which gives the Jobs business card more than enough time to surpass last year’s $180,000 card.
