The late Steve Jobs filled in a messy application with curious details three years before establishing the tech giant Apple, and a digital version of that very same application just sold for a substantial amount at auction, while the original physical copy sold for even more. Mementos from tech gurus are now becoming of great historical significance and often fetch a high price when sold. With Jobs' application, it seems to only be continuing to rise in value as the years go on.
Jobs started Apple back in 1976 alongside business partner Steve Wozniak before leaving and returning once again years later. During this return period, the late founder began rebuilding Apple's image with the help of chief designer Jonathan Ive. Given the value of a camera that Ive worked on was expected to reach almost $300,000 at auction, it's safe to assume that personal memorabilia belonging to none other than Jobs would prove to be even more valuable.
According to the auctioneer's official website, the auction of a sole physical copy of the application Jobs submitted at just 18 closed at $343,000. The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) version, a sort of digital imprint that gives the winning bidder ownership to a digital property, sold for significantly less at 12 ETH, which currently equates to around $27,000. The auctioneer explained that two versions were auctioned to determine whether bidders see more value in physical or digital assets, and it seems like the hard copy reigned supreme this time around.
The Appreciating Value Of Jobs' Application
The Apple CEO's aging application contained many interesting tidbits such as placing “none” under phone number, using “Reed College” as an address and even handwriting “electronics tech” and “design engineer” as special abilities despite majoring in “English Lit.” However, this isn't the first time this historical piece of paper came to light as it had already been sold multiple times in the past. According to the auction listing, it was first auctioned back in 2017, sold again one year later, and then more recently in March of this year, increasing in value by about 1200-percent within just 4 years. While the value of its digital version is far from the hard copy, this might change as more people become more open to how NFTs work.
Since the NFT version's winning bid was in ETH, it's also possible that its value would inflate dramatically over time if the cryptocurrency continues rising over the next few years. With the price of some NFTs skyrocketing to millions of dollars, it's likely that the digital version of Jobs' application could become just as valuable if it ever shows up at auction again in the future. It's worth noting that even the physical version could have been paid for in ETH as well. If cryptocurrency had been used, the current value of Jobs' application might not have been so final after all.
Source: Steve Jobs’ Job Application