Huge collection of vintage Apple computers hits the auction block this week

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This week, a huge collection of vintage Apple computers will be auctioned off by Julien’s Auctions. The Hanspeter Luzi collection consists of more than 500 Apple computers, parts, software, and more.

Julien’s Auctions has posted the full catalog ahead of the March 30 event, and for Apple nerds of a certain age, there will surely be much to catch your eye.

My own personal WTF moment occurred as I got to lot #15. It’s an Apple II, but black, not beige, and therefore a thousand times cooler, or something. Even known at the time as the Darth Vader Apple, it’s a regular Apple II in a black case made for Bell & Howell, aimed at schools.

Lot #392 has a higher starting price than many of the lots, and an estimate of between $300-$500. It’s the lot containing a Newton MessagePad 120, Apple’s first proper go at a handheld device.

Lot #418 is already at $600 at the time of writing. No surprise then that people are bidding on a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, which back in 1997 sold for a heady $7,499. But the TAM, as it’s known, is ultra cool, previewing a form factor that combined the computer’s hardware with a flatscreen display in a single unit—a design that wouldn’t go mainstream until the G4 iMac. (There are a few of those going up for auction, too.)

But before we get to the G4 iMac, we have to pass through the G3 iMac. Some readers may be too young to remember the craze of product design kicked off by Apple’s turn-of-the-century all-in-one. Translucent plastics became all the rage—in 2001, I remember having a translucent blue plastic kettle and a translucent blue steam iron. My pick of the G3 iMacs—of which there are more than 30—is the ludicrous Dalmatian Edition (lot #431), which had blue and white spots on its case. Just because.

You can see the full catalog here.