Colts Owner Jim Irsay Buys Steve Jobs-Signed Item for Nearly $800,000
Getty Images. Pictured: Jim Irsay (left) and Steve Jobs.
Items signed by late Apple co-founder, chairman and CEO Steve Jobs went crazy on Thursday night at an auction held by RR Auction that featured an array of Apple memorabilia.
Items signed by or associated with Jobs, who died in 2011, have been collectible since Apple started a cultural tech boom, but anything featuring his signature has skyrocketed in recent years.
The star of the auction was an Apple II manual signed by Jobs that was addressed in 1980 to a 14-year-old named Julian. Inside the manual, Jobs wrote: “Your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world!”
The signed manual, which RR Auction estimated was worth at least $25,000, sold for $787,484.
The item was purchased by Colts owner Jim Irsay.
“When we think of the greatest, most innovative minds of the past two centuries, Steve Jobs must certainly be included among them,” Irsay said in a release. “Jobs was a truly transformative figure who changed the way in which human beings think, do business and interact on a daily basis. As always, I look forward to sharing this piece in the hopes it may educate and inspire others to do great things in life.”
Irsay has a huge music collection that includes instruments once used by The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and Prince. He recently acquired Elton John’s piano for $915,000 and also owns Muhammad Ali’s boots from the 1975 “Thrilla’ in Manila,” Jack Kerouac’s first draft of “On The Road” and Abraham Lincoln’s walking cane.
A 1983 letter to a fan — in which Jobs wrote he doesn’t sign autographs despite signing the letter — sold for $479,939, and a Jobs business card sold for $12,905.
Said Bobby Livingston, RR Auction’s executive vice president: “Steve Jobs predicted that the first generation to grow up with computers would change the world … well, they did change the world … and this same generation is changing the memorabilia auction world, as well.”
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