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A Silicon Valley recycling center is searching for the woman who tried to recycle an old Apple computer that, it turns out, is worth $200,000. CleanBayArea, the recycling center, is attempting to give the woman her half of the money. According to a company statement, the woman told them that she found the computer and a lot of other recyclables while cleaning up her garage after her husband’s death.
The computer is the Apple 1, of which only 200 were ever made. CNN says only about 50 are thought to still exist. Few actually work. In 2013, a working Apple 1 sold for $671,000 at auction. The site says the price for these early model computers has gone up since Steve Jobs died in 2011.
It’s CleanBayArea’s policy to give 50 percent of the proceeds of the sale of any item back to the person who recycled it. The woman left no name or contact information and didn’t even take a tax receipt for what turned out to be an item that’s worth $100,000 to her.
So before you run off and recycle your old electronics, take a look and make sure it’s not worth a fortune. The seed money for your new business, the down payment for a new house, or the path to being debt free could be buried in a box in your garage.
