September 21, 2009 11:56 AM PDT
Star Trek creator's Mac being auctioned
Updated 2.14pm PST with a correction from Profiles in History
There could be some high-pitched squealing and ethereally egregious excitement afoot when serial number F4200NUM0001 goes up for auction on October 8 and 9.
For this serial number represents the bidding war that is sure to ensue when a certain Apple Macintosh Plus is offered to the public's paddles.
This is no ordinary Macintosh. This was thought to be the first Macintosh Plus ever made. (See correction below) And its owner was Gene Roddenberry. Yes, he whose fingers went where no man had ever gone before.
According to Reuters, an auctioneer of Hollywood bric-a-brac called Profiles in History will offer the cute little square box and keyboard to the highest bidder.
Apparently, this lovable device was offered to Roddenberry, who died in 1991, as a gift, so there is no guarantee that he actually carved some stellar words upon its delicate memory.
However, the price in those long-forgotten days was somewhere around $2,600. Now, the auction house only expects a price of around $800 to $1,200.
I believe that the auction house is being staffed by Klingons.
Surely there will be those who both wish they had oddly pointed ears and wore black sweaters and Levi's who would offer their life savings and all that they can elicit from several banks to be in possession of a machine that symbolizes so much.
There are individuals who believe that Michael Jackson's glove (the sweaty one he wore on the Victory tour), which is being offered at the same capitalistic jamboree, will fetch far more. These people have their drugs supplied by a pharmacy in outer Greenland staffed entirely by elks with tinnitus.
Indeed, Apple and Star Trek together represent veritable star power, and I firmly believe that this technological and sociological artifact will detonate all records and that the bidding will give an entirely new meaning to the word "enterprise."
Correction from Marc Kruskol, publicist for Profiles in History: "This computer, given by Apple to Mr. Roddenberry, is an early production Macintosh 128 (#776), which was then upgraded by Apple for Gene to a Macintosh Plus, thus the model number / serial number / panel that belongs to a Macintosh Plus. The 0001 led us to mistakenly believe that it was the first one off the line."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10357491-71.html
