The world’s first fully integrated desktop computer was found among boxes during a London house clearance in 2023, with one of the rare machines later sold for £37,179 at auction. The computers were discovered by house-clearance firm Just Clear while workers were clearing a London property. The find included a 1972 Q1 desktop microcomputer with an internal printer and its slightly later sibling, the Q1 Lite.Only three Q1 microcomputers are known to have survived, making the two machines particularly rare. A companion printer designed for the Q1 Lite was also found during the clearance. The three devices were later offered for the first time at auction by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The 1972 Q1 achieved the highest price, selling for £37,179. The Q1 Lite sold for £8,316, while its companion printer fetched £1,175.All three machines were sold without a reserve.
Computers that predated the Apple 1
The Q1 dates back to 1972, four years before Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs introduced the Apple 1.The machine used a microprocessor-based architecture that allowed it to deliver capabilities that had previously been associated with much larger computer systems.Valarie Spiegel, Heritage Auctions’ director of video games, said the technology allowed the Q1 to “punch well above its weight” and established an important precedent for the computing industry.The Q1 was also far from affordable by the standards of the time. The machines would have cost the equivalent of more than £70,000 each, making them too expensive to be marketed for individual use.Despite that limitation, the Q1 represented an early step towards the development of computers that could eventually become part of everyday life.
Rare machines went on public display
The computers did not go directly from the London house clearance to the auction block.The Q1, Q1 Lite and companion printer were displayed at Kingston University in London in February 2024, as part of an exhibition titled Creating the Everything Device: Showcasing the Machines That Built the Future.The exhibition focused on early computers and gaming machines and placed the newly discovered Q1s alongside other examples of early technology.Paul Neve, a senior lecturer at Kingston University, said having two Q1 machines available for the exhibition offered an opportunity to show the technology that preceded modern computers.“It is a real bonus being able to feature two Q1s, the world’s earliest microcomputers, at Kingston University,” Neve told New Atlas.He said the computers developed during the 1970s and 1980s helped establish the foundations for modern machines used for work, communication, productivity and entertainment.
First auction made value uncertain
The Heritage sale was also significant because the machines had never previously been auctioned.Before the bidding began, Sara Balbi, managing director of Heritage Auctions’ London office, said there was no established auction record for the Q1s that could indicate how much buyers might pay.“Keep in mind these have never been to auction, and there is no record or precedent set for them. We’ll have to see what the market decides,” Balbi said.The eventual results put a value on the rare pieces of computing history.The 1972 Q1 with its internal printer sold for £37,179, while the later Q1 Lite reached £8,316. The separate Q1 companion printer sold for £1,175.
