One of the few remaining examples of Apple Inc.’s first pre-assembled computer, Apple-1, sold for €715,000 at an auction in New York, far outstripping expectations.

The relic, which sparked a revolution in home computing, is thought to be one of the first batch of 50 Apple-1 machines assembled by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs’s family garage in Los Altos, California, in summer of 1976.

The Apple-1 was not only innovative, but it is a key artefact in the foundation of the digital revolution

Auction house Bonhams had said it expected to sell the machine, which was working as of September, for between €236,000 and €395,000.

The buyer was The Henry Ford organisation, which plans to display the computer in its museum in Dearborn, Michigan, the US.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who assembled Apple-1 in Steve Jobs’s garage in 1976. Photo: David McNew/Reuters

“The Apple-1 was not only innovative, but it is a key artefact in the foundation of the digital revolution,” Henry Ford president Patricia Mooradian said in a statement.

There were few buyers for the first Apples until Paul Terrell, owner of electronics retailer Byte Shop, placed an order for 50 and sold them for €526 each. After that initial success, Jobs and Wozniak produced another 150 and sold them to friends and other vendors.

Previously, a working Apple-I was sold by Sotheby’s auction house in 2012 for €295,726.

Fewer than 50 original Apple-1s are believed to survive.