Beyond the Black Turtleneck: New Auction Reveals Steve Jobs’ Private Life
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Auctions for Apple memorabilia and other historical items have become a regular occurrence in recent years, but a new Steve Jobs-focused auction from RR Auction offers a collection of items that are much more interesting than the usual early Apple prototypes and sealed-in-box OG iPhone models.
To commemorate the approach of the 50-year mark since Apple’s founding on April 1, 1976, RR Auction is hosting Steve Jobs & the Computer Revolution: The Apple 50th Anniversary Auction, and it’s offering some items that could provide a never-before-seen glimpse into Jobs’ early private life.
While the auction still has some of the usual stuff, like Apple-1 computer prototypes and historic signed checks— including the first Apple check Jobs and Steve Wozniak ever wrote — it also features many items belonging specifically to Steve Jobs in both his professional and personal life.
For instance, there’s an Apple-1 ‘Byte Shop’ wooden casing , computer heat sink, and even a Apple-1 ribbon cable, all of which were personally owned by Steve Jobs. That provenance will undoubtedly have some of these items commanding a pretty penny; the ribbon cable is already at $318 in early bids, and is expected to fetch over $1,000.
However, it’s the personal items that are far more interesting, and it’s quite an eclectic collection, ranging from car repair manuals and 8-track tapes to posters that adorned the walls of the Jobs family home during his youth.
Again, Steve Jobs’ name added quite a bit of cachet to these items. After all, who would have imagined in the 1970s that a set of six 8-track tapes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez could fetch over $3,000. That’s $500 per tape, and they aren’t even in mint condition.
Of course, the auction house is putting its own spin on these, noting that they’re “reflecting the creative DNA that formed Apple’s ethos.” That’s not entirely wrong — Steve Jobs was reportedly a huge fan of both artists, as was Steve Wozniak, who was responsible for turning Jobs onto the music of Dylan not long after they met.
There’s also a vintage Volkswagen Repair Manual that was stored in the famous “Apple Garage.” That’s expected to fetch over $1,000, but at least it’s hand-annotated by Jobs in several places, and it’s accompanied by a second more whimsical book, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot, also including annotations in Jobs’ own handwriting.
Jobs famously sold his Volkswagen microbus to help raise the $1,300 needed to start Apple, so it’s fascinating that he kept the manuals even after the bus was gone, making them feel like a sentimental “talisman” of the company’s birth.
This list of personal memorabilia goes on to include a document Steve Jobs signed to sell his father’s car, the desk from Steve Jobs’ bedroom, and, in what could be the piece de resistance, a set of 12 personally-owned bow ties that were retrieved from Steve Jobs’ boyhood bedroom closet.
While it’s doubtful he ever wore any of these specific ties during his Apple years — they’re clip-ons and not the higher-fashion choices that came later — there are plenty of events and even publicity photos that showed a youthful Jobs wearing a bowtie — including the iconic 1984 Macintosh launch — from the era before he traded that look in for the minimalist black turtleneck and jeans.
There’s also a set of magazines owned by Paul R. Jobs, Steve’s father, who had clearly saved key ones featuring his son on the cover. According to Wired, most of these more personal items are up for auction via Steve’s stepbrother, John Chavonec, whose mother married Paul Jobs in 1990 — long after Steve had moved on. Chavonec also worked at Apple himself for several years, making him part of the company’s story rather than just a guy who found some old stuff in a family closet.
While the Jobs family relics are arguably the most unique and interesting items, offering a window into Apple’s legendary co-founder, the auction also features some of the more typical items that reflect Apple’s 1980s corporate culture, such as Steve Wozniak’s Apple Rainbow Glasses and a 1989 Jaguar XJS convertible that was registered to Apple for use by engineer Taylor Pohlman during his second stint at Apple under CEO John Sculley.
That in itself is an interesting side story, as Pohlman had initially worked as a product manager for the Apple III during the company’s early years before leaving to co-found Forethought, where he helped develop PowerPoint and FileMaker. After selling Forethought to Microsoft, Pohlman returned to Apple and ultimately became the company’s Director of Business Development.
It’s an almost poetic irony that the man who helped create PowerPoint, which would later become a cornerstone of the Microsoft empire, was driving an Apple-issued Jaguar V12 provided during the height of the rivalry between the two companies.
The Jaguar was provided to Pohlman under a short-lived “Executive Automobile Policy” where senior executives and key engineers were provided with high-end company cars. Apple allowed him to buy out the lease, and Pohlman kept this car for another 35 years before listing it on Bring a Trailerin February 2024. While the $7,500 offer there failed to meet the reserve bid, the RR Auction listing suggests Pohlman later sold it to a private collector, who recognized that it could be far more valuable to Apple fans than mere car collectors and decided to flip it at an auction where it’s expected to fetch upwards of $50,000.
