The contract that marked the beginning of the digital revolution is about to return to the spotlight: Christie’s will offer at auction the founding document of the Apple Computer Company, signed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976. Estimated between 2 and 4 million dollars, the original manuscript will be one of the flagship pieces of the “We the People: America at 250” sale, scheduled for January 23, 2026 at the Rockefeller Center in New York.
At just 21 and 25 years old, Jobs and Wozniak signed an agreement that would create one of the most influential companies in the contemporary world. Those signatures, drawn up half a century ago, coincide with the start of a path destined to change humanity’s relationship with technology: from the first circuits built in a Californian garage to the global ecosystem that today defines communication, work and entertainment.
The document joins another rarity already announced for the same sale: a printed draft of the United States Constitution with handwritten annotations by founding father Rufus King, estimated at between $3 million and $5 million. Used by King during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, the draft offers direct testimony on the process of drafting the fundamental American charter. Christie’s has anticipated that further notable lots will be revealed in the coming weeks, before the full sale catalog is made public. The “We the People: America at 250” auction promises to be a journey through the documents that have helped shape both the history of the United States and the technological future of the planet. (by Paolo Martini)