Apple’s 1976 Founding Papers to Auction at Christie’s With $4M Estimate

The most consequential piece of paper in Silicon Valley history is headed to auction. On January 23, 2026, Christie's will sell the original three-page partnership agreement that launched Apple Computer Company—signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976—with an estimated value of $2 million to $4 million. The document, typed on Wayne’s IBM Selectric, isn’t just a contract. It’s the birth certificate of a company that would reshape the world. And its sale at Christie’s Rockefeller Center location in New York City is part of the broader We the People: America at 250New York City exhibition, marking the U.S. semiquincentennial.

The Document That Started It All

Wayne, then 41 and a seasoned draftsman with experience at Atari, was brought in to formalize the fledgling venture. Jobs, 21, and Wozniak, 26, had built the Apple I in a garage and needed structure. Wayne drafted the agreement on his typewriter, outlining a 45-45-10 ownership split. He contributed just $250—far less than the $1,300 Jobs and Wozniak pooled—but his legal and administrative know-how was invaluable. The document didn’t just list stakes; it defined roles, responsibilities, and even how profits would be divided. It was simple, handwritten in places, and signed in ink that’s now faded with time.

But here’s the twist: twelve days later, on April 12, 1976, Wayne walked away. He sold his 10% stake for $800. Why? He later called it a "pragmatic move." The startup, he warned, would be a "roller coaster"—and he didn’t want to ride it. At the time, it made sense. Today? It’s almost unimaginable. That 10% share, based on Apple’s current $3 trillion market cap, would be worth over $400 billion. Wayne didn’t just leave money on the table—he left a fortune no one could have predicted.

A Second Chance at History

Wayne kept the original documents for decades. In the early 1990s, he sold them for $500 to a private collector. Then, in December 2011, Sotheby’s auctioned them off for $1.6 million—a record at the time. Now, Christie’s is selling the same set, but this time as a single lot: the original partnership agreement and Wayne’s formal withdrawal notice, both preserved together. The auction house expects fierce bidding from tech museums, billionaire collectors, and possibly even Apple Inc. itself—though the company has stayed silent.

What makes this different from the 2011 sale? Context. The world now understands the scale of Apple’s impact. The iPhone, the App Store, the ecosystem—it all traces back to this three-page contract. Christie’s is calling it "the most significant artifact in American tech history," and experts agree. The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, has expressed interest. So have private collectors from Europe and Asia. One anonymous bidder reportedly told a curator, "This isn’t paper. It’s the origin point of the digital age."

Why This Matters Beyond the Price Tag

The $4 million estimate isn’t just about rarity—it’s about symbolism. This isn’t a signed iPhone or a prototype Mac. It’s the legal foundation of a company that redefined communication, entertainment, and computing. It’s the moment two college dropouts and a middle-aged engineer turned a garage idea into a global force. The fact that Wayne, the quiet third partner, was the one who documented it all adds a layer of poetic irony.

Compare it to other cultural artifacts: the Wright brothers’ flight log, Edison’s lightbulb patent, or the first Google search query. None of those have ever sold at auction with this kind of valuation. And yet, this document is more than a relic. It’s a lesson. It shows how fragile success can be. Jobs and Wozniak didn’t know they were building a trillion-dollar company. Wayne knew the risk—and chose safety. That tension—between vision and caution—is what makes this auction feel like a mirror held up to every startup founder today.

What Happens Next?

The auction on January 23, 2026, will be live-streamed globally. Bidding will likely open at $2 million, but with multiple institutional buyers in the mix, the final price could shatter expectations. If Apple Inc. decides to bid, it would be a quiet act of historical reconciliation—a company buying back its own origin story. Even if they don’t, the buyer will likely be a museum or a private collector who plans to display it publicly. Either way, this document won’t disappear into a vault.

And what about Wayne? He’s 88 now, living quietly in Arizona. He’s declined interviews about the auction. But in a 2015 NPR segment, he said, "I didn’t lose anything. I just didn’t gamble." Fair enough. But history doesn’t always judge by the odds. Sometimes, it judges by the outcome.