I have a working all-original Lisa 1 system with manuals, disks, and other goodies that I would let go... for the right price. High resolution photos are available here:
https://applelisa1.smugmug.com/Apple-Lisa-1
This is probably the best Lisa 1 collection you will ever have the opportunity to buy. A Lisa 1 recently sold at Christie's for $700K + 26% buyers fees = $882K:
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-paul-g-allen-collection/apple-lisa-1-microcomputer-143/230081
The high price may be because it came from Paul Allen's Living Computer Museum, but even still, I'll need to see an offer somewhere up there to let mine go. Do you remember when Apple 1 computers were selling for $20K, $35K, $60K etc. then one day someone paid around $350K to buy one? Now all Apple 1's sell for high prices like that. The Lisa 1 is an important milestone in computer history and is very rare which explains why they have been selling for such high prices. I realize the majority of people on this forum can't afford it, but maybe word will spread through the grapevine and it will eventually reach someone who can.
Details
This is an all original Apple Lisa 1 computer. It was never a Lisa 2/5 and was not converted back into a Lisa 1. I purchased this collection piece in 2010 from a prominent Lisa collector who restores and resells Apple Lisa computers. He purchased it from the original owner and was required to sign an NDA to protect the owner's identity. All I can say is that the original owner was a household name in American politics back in the early 1970s.
I was told that all of the plastics, covers, and internal parts are original. The keyboard was missing and a new old stock keyboard was sold to me with this Lisa. The space bar is not properly attached (wobbly), but that can probably be fixed if you take it apart. The mouse was replaced with a better example by the previous owner. The internal battery was removed around 2009-2010, and there was no damage to the boards from leaks. Or, at least the damage was so minimal that the computer still works. One capacitor was replaced on each of the twiggy drives to make them work again. The previous owner demonstrated both drives reading and writing when I bought it in 2010 using a blank FileWare disk he had but did not let me keep.
The printer and parallel interface were purchased separately and have not been tested. The printer belt is completely worn out and needs replacing.
Lisa 1 board schematics and The Complete Book of Lisa are also included in the sale.
The hard drive was low-level formatted using a pre-release of BLU (Basic Lisa Utility), then Lisa OS 1.0 along with the 7/7 applications were installed. Lisa computers have a form of copy protection that writes the computer's serial number to the floppy disk on first use which makes the disk unusable in other Lisa computers. The previous owner had a box of blank FileWare twiggy disks and used BLU to write disk images to them that did not have the serial number on them already. This is how he was able to re-install the software.
The boxed software that I am selling with this computer came from another Lisa 1 computer. I've looked at the platters of a few of the disks and can see white specs which is probably mold. If they are readable, they likely have the serial number of a different Lisa 1 computer written on them already. Fortunately it came with the ROM chip from the Lisa 1 computer that these disks belonged to. The ROM chip contains the computer's serial number. If you really wanted to use these twiggy disks, you could swap out the ROM chip to have the correct serial number in the computer. This ROM chip is stored in a small plastic case inside of the LisaWrite box.
A purchase this expensive is something you should come meet me to see, test and pick up in person (Canadian side of Niagara Falls, Ontario). You'll likely need to work with a customs broker before coming to make sure all taxes and possibly tariffs are paid before you attempt to cross the border with it. I will not part with it until the money is confirmed in my bank account.
One sold on eBay for $56,100 in 2018: https://www.ebay.com/itm/182999855120
How much are you asking for yours?
More have sold on RR Auctions since then. Prior to the Christie's auction they were going for $80K - $95K. After the Christie's auction, a badly damaged one with replaced chips and capacitors that still did not work sold for $57K. I stated that I'm looking for offers somewhere near what the one at Christie's sold for. My system was not on display at Paul Allen's Living Computer Museum, but I think what I have is better since it is known to work, has the disks and manuals, and if you look at the labels on the ports behind, I suspect the one at Christie's was a later Lisa 2/5 converted back to a Lisa 1. I might be wrong about that. If it doesn't sell, I'm happy to keep it and try again someday in the future.
There is an auction in progress: https://www.troostwijkauctions.com/en/l/apple-lisa-model-1-computer-A1-26833-1
Interesting, thanks for the link. How did you find that auction?
Some things to note about this machine based on the description and photos:
1) It is known to not work.
2) Battery still installed - possible board damage.
3) Software disks not included with the manuals.
4) Current bids are below the reserve price. I wonder what the reserve price is?
It was posted on Facebook in the Vintage Computer Club group a few hours ago.
I don't think not working will affect the price that much, since the cost of fixing it will be insignificant relative to its sell price. However it can mean a few grand less, which is why if I were the seller I would have fixed it first. The boards all look really good even around the batteries, which is something super important.
The reserve price is not that important, since we will be able to see the maximum bid even if it doesn’t sell.