Apple's humble beginnings revealed: Steve Jobs' 1976 photograph of the company's first computers seen for the first time



The grainy snap was taken by Steve Jobs, then 21, at his parent's house



It shows two piles of cardboard boxes containing the first 50 Apple devices



The image emerged as the 'world's best' Apple 1 computer was put up for sale at auction for £500,000

A never-before-seen photograph showing electronics giant Apple's very first computers stacked in boxes in Steve Jobs' bedroom has come to light.

The grainy snap was taken in 1976 when Jobs, then 21, and friend Steve Wozniak built 50 basic computers in Jobs' parents' house.

The fascinating image depicts the humble beginnings the company started from before it went on to become the world's most valuable brand worth £60 billion.

This never-before-seen photograph shows electronics giant Apple's very first computers stacked in boxes in Steve Jobs' bedroom from the very earliest days of the worlds most iconic brand. The grainy snap was taken in 1976 when Jobs, then 21, and friend Steve Wozniak built 50 basic computers in Jobs' parents' house

The photo, thought to have been taken by Jobs himself, shows two piles of white cardboard boxes containing the first 50 'Apple 1' devices in front of some windows.

A basic monitor sits atop a chest of drawers while a soldering iron and wiring can be seen on a desk.

The image has emerged as the 'world's best' Apple 1 computer was put up for sale at auction for £500,000.

Among the boxes is the item for sale - the 46th 'Apple 1' ever built and one of just 11 in

in existence today.

The 1976 image emerged as the 'world's best' Apple 1 computer was put up for sale at auction for £500,000 (pictured). The rudimentary machine has been owned by an American computer enthusiast for the last 30 years

The Apple 1 computer comes with its original white cardboard box.The motherboard and the box are signed by Wozniak (pictured), who has confirmed they are originals

THE APPLE 1 COMPUTER

The 'Apple 1' devices were built on order for a local computer shop called The Byte Store before Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak moved their makeshift operation downstairs to his garage. They computers on general sale in July 1976 at a price of $666.66, because Steve Wozniak reportedly 'liked repeating digits'. Unlike other hobbyist computers of its day, which were sold as kits, the Apple I was a fully assembled circuit board containing about over 60 chips. To make a working computer, users still had to add a case, power supply transformers, power switch, keyboard, and composite video display.

The 'Apple 1' devices were built on order for a local computer shop called The Byte Store before Jobs and Wozniak moved their makeshift operation downstairs to his garage.

The rudimentary machine has been owned by an American computer enthusiast for the last 30 years.

But he decided to sell it when another working 'Apple 1' sold for £441,600 at auction in May, a world record.

It is in full working order and is said to be in perfect condition.

It even comes with its original white cardboard box featuring the black dot Jobs and Wozniak used to mark the boxes as ready for dispatch.

Experts estimate it to sell for £350,000 but have said the machine could break the world record by selling for more than £500,000.

The original cardboard box, signed by Steve Wozniak, is marked with a dot. This is the method Steve Jobs and Wozniak used to mark their products ready for delivery

Apple chief Steve Jobs, gave a presentation about the iPad in 2010, while standing below an old image of himself in the early days of Apple computers

Uwe Breker, from German auctioneers Auction Team Breker, said: 'This is simply the best Apple 1 we have ever seen - and it is our understanding that there is no better machine in existence.

'When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak set up Apple they sold the first 50 units to a computer shop called the Byte Store.

'Those 50 units were built in Steve Jobs' bedroom at his parents' house.



'They numbered each of the computers one to 50 - and this one is number 46.



'It even comes with its original cardboard box which is marked with a dot, the method Jobs and Wozniak used to mark their products ready for delivery.'

The motherboard and the box are signed by Steve Wozniak, who has confirmed they are originals.

'The picture has never been seen before and gives a fascinating insight into the very humble beginnings of the biggest company in the world,' said Breker,

'The origins of the photo are relatively unknown - it came with the computer when the current owner bought it some 30 years ago.



'We have given a very conservative estimate, and the market will decide the selling price, but this is a more attractive item than the unit we sold in May that set a world record.'

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (pictured) set up Apple they sold the first 50 units to a computer shop called the Byte Store. Those 50 units were built in Steve Jobs' bedroom at his parents' house. In this image, Wozniak is holding up the original motherboard

Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011, and Wozniak sold the 'Apple 1s' for £420 each in 1976.

The models were laughable in comparison to today's high-tech Apple devices.

They came with a separate monitor, keyboard, motherboard and cassette player to load programmes and only had 8K of memory, not even enough to store one song.

Yet the primitive machine gave birth to the Apple empire, including the MacBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

The Byte Store's advertising slogan for the 'Apple 1s' was 'Take a byte from an apple'.



It is believed this inspired Apple's famous logo of an apple with a chunk bitten out of it.

The Apple 1 will be sold at Auction Team Breker in Cologne, Germany, on November 16.