New Apple Gear Auction Includes Doubly Sealed Original iPhone

It’s been a memorable year for Apple memorabilia. Several auctions have seen new sealed-in-box versions of the original 2007 iPhone up for grabs, with one fetching a record-breaking $190,000.

While it was one of the exceptionally rare 4GB 2007 iPhones that commanded such a high price at auction, that hasn’t stopped 8GB versions from going for five-figure amounts upwards of $40,000.

However, now the set of mint Apple products in LCG Auctions’ new 2023 Fall Premiere Auction is raising the stakes, not only offering up another sealed original 2007 4GB iPhone but also one that’s never been taken out of its original FedEx shipping box.

This latter is an 8GB model, with a current bid of $10,000 as of this writing, but LCG estimates it could go as high as $50,000. However, to put that in perspective, LCG also estimated only $100,000 for the $190,000 4GB iPhone.

The box includes the FedEx label with the recipient address redacted, showing only “Glendale” (presumably the one in California) and a ship date of July 11, 2007 — less than two weeks after the original iPhone went on sale on June 29. However, the packing list also shows a ship date of June 29, 2007, which may represent the date the order was placed, and that it contains one “MA721LL/A” — the U.S. part number for the original 2007 iPhone in an 8GB capacity.

Of course, while that all sounds legit, you’re probably wondering how LCG plans to guarantee that what’s inside this plain brown box is really an iPhone. The auction house notes that the iPhone “arrived to us sealed in the original FedEx shipping box” that’s “never been opened” and that “the phone remains preserved inside.

However, LCG notes that it’s been given permission to remove the phone from the box and will add photo and possibly video footage of that process “in the coming days.”

Our consignor has instructed us to carefully open the box. We will open the package and remove the phone for the very first time. The iPhone is presumed to be factory sealed and in pristine condition. Photos and/or video footage will be added in the coming days.

LCG Auctions

While the shipping label also includes FedEx tracking numbers and an Apple web order number, both have long since expired from Apple’s and FedEx’s systems.

While the “brown box” iPhone is the most unique Apple product in this season’s LCG auction, it’s joined by the aforementioned 4GB iPhone that’s already receiving bids in excess of $24,000, plus an original factory-sealed 8GB iPhone and a 16GB first-generation iPhone in its original shipping box that was purchased by some well-off parents who regularly bought “multiple electronics for her and her siblings” but didn’t always give them out.

According to our consignor, her parents would often buy multiple electronics for her and her siblings. Not everything with given out, and some items remained unopened and in storage for decades. This was one of them, along with the factory sealed Sega Game Gear (also one that her parents never gave out).

LCG Auctions

The 16GB version was likely the second-rarest model of the original iPhone. The rarest was the 4GB model that was only on the market for 68 days before Apple discontinued it in early September. However, unlike the 8GB iPhone, which was available for nearly a year until Apple replaced it with the iPhone 3G on June 15, 2008, the 16GB model was released in February 2008 and discontinued alongside its 8GB sibling. That meant it was sold for about four months.

However, by the time these first-ever 16GB iPhone models were released, Apple had begun selling the iPhone outside of the US. The UK, Germany, and France got the original iPhone in November 2007, and Austria and Ireland joined in March 2008. This means Apple likely manufactured and sold quite a few more 16GB models than the US-only 4GB iPhone.

This is the first time we’ve seen a sealed 16GB version of the original iPhone up for auction, so it will be interesting to see how much it goes for. Nevertheless, LCG isn’t super-optimistic about this one, estimating it will fetch between $15,000 and $25,000. That’s a lot, but it’s a far cry from the $100,000 estimate it made for the 4GB iPhone.