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Lot Essay
While the marketing vision of Steve Jobs looms large in the story of Apple Computer, the company would not have existed were it not for the critical work undertaken by Steve Wozniak. The Apple I and the Apple II allowed Jobs and Wozniak to secure a crucial foothold in the nascent world of personal computing, setting the stage for the ascent of Apple Computer and the development of the Macintosh and the democratisation of computing.
The present toolbox, which bears Wozniak's name in capital letters on a Dynamo self-adhesive label its lid, was used by the Apple co-founder beginning in the early 1970s while he was still an engineer at Hewlett-Packard where he designed calculators. It is fitting that his personal toolbox was blue, considering that in the early 1970s he earned the nickname 'Berkeley Blue' within the phone phreaking community for his development of a blue box that allowed users to circumvent long distance telephone charges. The sale of these blue boxes was the first business endeavor undertaken by Jobs and Wozniak. Jobs later credited this partnership as the genesis of Apple, admitting that without the blue boxes, 'there wouldn't have been an Apple.'
Although developed initially for the Homebrew Computer Club, the Apple I was the first to offer an integrated video terminal, and it was inspired by the debut of the Altair 8800 -- the same computer that inspired Paul Allen and Bill Gates to found the firm that would become Microsoft. Ironically, Wozniak first marketed his completed design for what became the Apple I to his then employer, Hewlett Packard, but was turned down five times. It was at that point, in early 1976, that Jobs suggested that they go into business selling the boards directly to consumers and Apple Computer was born.
The tool box was obtained originally by M. Thomas Liggett, Jr. who was hired by Apple as a Facilities Engineer 'B' in 1978, Apple Computer Employee #114. Ligget recalled that 'At some time previous to my hiring [1978], all of the engineers were given small blue toolboxes, with their name in "Dymo" tape written on the lid. After seeing Steve Wozniak's box laying around for some time, I asked him about it, and he said he had no interest in it. I asked him if I could have it, and he said "yes."' Recently, Christie's contacted Mr. Wozniak to confirm the provenance of the toolbox, to which he replied in an email: 'That toolbox dates to the times I was at HP developing many things, including the computer that became the Apple I and Apple II. It was my only such toolbox then and was critical to everything I did with hardware.'
The present toolbox, which bears Wozniak's name in capital letters on a Dynamo self-adhesive label its lid, was used by the Apple co-founder beginning in the early 1970s while he was still an engineer at Hewlett-Packard where he designed calculators. It is fitting that his personal toolbox was blue, considering that in the early 1970s he earned the nickname 'Berkeley Blue' within the phone phreaking community for his development of a blue box that allowed users to circumvent long distance telephone charges. The sale of these blue boxes was the first business endeavor undertaken by Jobs and Wozniak. Jobs later credited this partnership as the genesis of Apple, admitting that without the blue boxes, 'there wouldn't have been an Apple.'
Although developed initially for the Homebrew Computer Club, the Apple I was the first to offer an integrated video terminal, and it was inspired by the debut of the Altair 8800 -- the same computer that inspired Paul Allen and Bill Gates to found the firm that would become Microsoft. Ironically, Wozniak first marketed his completed design for what became the Apple I to his then employer, Hewlett Packard, but was turned down five times. It was at that point, in early 1976, that Jobs suggested that they go into business selling the boards directly to consumers and Apple Computer was born.
The tool box was obtained originally by M. Thomas Liggett, Jr. who was hired by Apple as a Facilities Engineer 'B' in 1978, Apple Computer Employee #114. Ligget recalled that 'At some time previous to my hiring [1978], all of the engineers were given small blue toolboxes, with their name in "Dymo" tape written on the lid. After seeing Steve Wozniak's box laying around for some time, I asked him about it, and he said he had no interest in it. I asked him if I could have it, and he said "yes."' Recently, Christie's contacted Mr. Wozniak to confirm the provenance of the toolbox, to which he replied in an email: 'That toolbox dates to the times I was at HP developing many things, including the computer that became the Apple I and Apple II. It was my only such toolbox then and was critical to everything I did with hardware.'