A check signed by Steve Jobs four days before he, Steve Wozniak and Ronald G. Wayne filed to start the Apple Computer Company sold Thursday night for $87,940.
The check, which was on generic Wells Fargo stock, was for $47.50 and paid to Pacific Telephone, the then AT&T-owned service provider. It is numbered as check No. 6.
What makes this check remarkable is that, unlike checks No. 2 through No. 5, which RR Auction has previously sold, this check lists Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne’s name on the back, along with the address of the answering service the company famously used when the business was first operating out of the Jobs family garage.
The notation of the names leads with “DBA Apple Computer Company.”
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This inscription was undoubtedly done in the teller’s hand so the bank or the payor would know if the check bounced where it came from.
Wayne famously left Apple on April 12, 1976, because he was concerned about how Jobs was leveraging the company in the early days. According to one legend, Jobs got Apple off the ground by pre-selling 50 not-yet-made Apple computers to the local store, The Byte Shop. He got the parts from Cramer Electronics after it agreed to be paid once Jobs was paid by The Byte Shop.
Wayne wrote Apple’s incorporation documents on April 1, 1976, that gave Jobs and Wozniak 45% each and Wayne 10%.
Although Jobs and he had spoken about forming a company, Wayne told cllct last month he had no idea Jobs was already representing to the world he was part of a company before that date.
He explained that he first learned this only last month when he was presented with information about this check being auctioned off.
Wayne says he was given no assurances he wouldn’t be on the hook if Jobs continued to act irresponsibly, and that prospect terrified him. Wayne was 42 at the time, and while he had modest resources, he had far more financial wherewithal than Jobs or Wozniak, who were admittedly financially challenged and both in their early 20s.
“I was concerned with the very real risk by itself,” Wayne said. “I was a 10% shareholder in the company, suddenly with 100% of the liability.”
That’s why Wayne abandoned ship for what turned out to be $800 that later could have become billions. Apple paid Wayne an additional $1,500 to completely remove him from the company's cap table.
RR has now sold 17 checks signed by at least Steve Jobs for an average of $85,128 per check. Wozniak signed some. Wayne signed none.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.