Historic Apple Company Creation Papers To Be Auctioned In 2026; May Reach Around Rs 36 Crores!

Christie’s, the British auction firm, is gearing up for one of the most memorable tech auctions next year – the original company creation papers that founded Apple Computer Company. It’s rare for documents like this to surface, and when they do, they tell a story bigger than any keynote or product drop. Also Read: Black Friday Deal: MacBook Air M4 Now Available For Just Rs 55,911 On Croma

Christie’s has confirmed it will list founding papers as a single auction lot on January 23, 2026. The estimate? Somewhere between $2 million and $4 million, which at the top end, touches the $4M mark (around Rs 35 crores), everyone is now quoting! Also Read: Black Friday Deal Alert: iPhone Air Gets A Rs 11,000 Price Cut On Croma

The auction will also include the original three-page partnership contract signed by co-founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and early partner Ron Wayne. The contract laid out the company’s first ownership structure: 45% to Jobs, 45% to Wozniak, and 10% to Wayne – a simple split, a typed agreement, and unknowingly.  Also Read: iPhone Fold Leaks: Expected Launch Timeline, Price, Cameras, Specs, Displays, Design And More

Along with this, the same auction will add Wayne’s withdrawal papers. He stepped away from the partnership just 12 days later, choosing peace over the unpredictable ride that came with a risky startup. He was paid $800 for his 10% share, followed by $1,500 more later. In hindsight, it reads like an incredible fork-in-the-road, but at the moment, for Wayne, it was just a personal choice – the difference between wanting stability and wanting a startup sprint.

Sure, people love to say that 10% could’ve been worth hundreds of billions today. But remember, this is more of a historical fun-fact comparison than real math. Over the decades, with stock splits, share dilution, reorganisation, and new investors entering the mix, that original 10% slice no longer maps neatly to today’s Apple share structure. Still, it makes for one of the most discussed ‘what if’ stories in tech lore.

Has Apple Paperwork Fetched Big Bids Before?

Yes. These papers have appeared at auctions earlier too. In the early 1990s, Wayne sold his physical copy for just $500. The last time similar documents hit the market in 2011, Sotheby’s sold them to a private collector for $1.6 million.

For collectors who treasure device prototypes and old contracts alike, these documents aren’t just paper. They’re a timestamped proof of how one of the world’s most influential companies began – complete with faded ink signatures and typed lines that first established the business.