San Francisco: A Fortune magazine cover from 1989 featuring Steve Jobs and autographed by him has sold for $16,638 (more than Rs 12.4 lakh), almost 5,000 times its original $3.50 cover price.
The cover is autographed “To Terry, Steve Jobs” and dates from when he was with the computer company called NeXT Software, reports AppleInsider.
Terry had been Jobs’ limousine driver for several years in the 1980s and when asked for an autograph, the Apple founder had an issue of Fortune Magazine on the front and signed that.
“I was one of Jobs’s chauffeur drivers for several years before I asked Jobs to sign this magazine. Although Jobs subsequently called my limousine company to complain about the autograph request,” Terry said in the auction letter of authenticity.
Jobs left Apple in 1985 and started a computer company called NeXT.
Apple acquired NeXT Software after a decade for $400 million. As part of the deal, Jobs returned to the iPhone maker and reported to then CEO Dr Gil Amelio, later taking over the role as CEO.
In 2001, the original Mac OS was replaced with a completely new Mac OS X, based on NeXT’s ‘NeXTSTEP’ platform, giving the OS a modern Unix-based foundation for the first time.
The auction of the cover was held by Nate D. Sanders Auctions and there were only three bids on this piece with the minimum bid being $11,000.
Earlier, a poster for Pixar Animation Studios’ 1995 film ‘Toy Story’ signed by Jobs sold at an auction in Los Angeles for $31,250, which was $6,000 more than its starting price. The poster was 24-inches by 36-inches in dimension and was reportedly signed sometime after 1995.
(IANS)