Helpfully, these documents include a number of handwritten numbers.īaqué then personally transported two of the boards, and the handwriting samples, to California for examination by PSA. The company’s analysis would include the slant, flow, pen pressure, letter size, and other characteristics.ĭaniel Kottke, who was a close friend of Steve, provided a number of letters and postcards written by Steve. However, since Steve rarely signed autographs, making his signature and handwriting especially valuable, the potential impact on the value of the machines with serial numbers meant that as much certainty as possible was needed.īaqué asked one of the world’s leading handwriting authentication services to compare the serial numbers on two of the Apple 1 boards with known samples of Steve’s writing.Ĭalifornia-based PSA said that they could do it, but photos wouldn’t be sufficient – they would need to carry out a physical examination of both the boards and the handwriting samples.

This, it turned out, would not be a trivial task.ĭespite Steve Jobs’ denial, the handwriting on the boards did seem to match his. Likewise for Byte Shop owner Paul Terrell, who bought a batch of 50 of them…Īchim Baqué, who maintains the Apple-1 Registry (a listing of all Apple 1 computers), finally decided to try to solve the mystery. Daniel Kottke, who assembled and tested some of the boards, said it wasn’t him. Steve Wozniak said that he didn’t write them. Apple geeks may be aware of the mystery of the handwritten Apple 1 serial number present on some of the surviving machines.

Apple serial number mystery by forensic