MONROVIA, California: A 40 year-old Apple computer originally developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer, has sold for $400,000 at a California auction house.

The Apple-1 computer has a casing made of wood found in Hawaii and was originally sold as a kit to be assembled.

The computer was earlier owned by a university academic, who had purchased it from a pupil for $650, according to John Moran Auctioneers.

The final sale included the original instruction booklets, as well as the Apple software installed on two cassette tapes.

“This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors,” according to Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

“That really makes it exciting for a lot of people.”

Originally, California-based ByteShop purchased 50 of the Apple-1 computers, then added the wood casing to each unit it sold.

Apple was founded by Ronald Wayne, Jobs, and Wozniak on 1 April, 1976 in a back yard garage.

Steve Jobs, in a bid to fund the manufacturing of Apple-1 units, sold his Volkswagen Microbus, and Wozniak proceeded to sell his HP-65 scientific calculator for $500.

In 1976 the Apple-1 computers sold for 666.66 US dollars, supposedly on account of Wozniak’s penchant for repetitive numbering.

Today there are some 20 operational Apple-1 computers worldwide.

In 2014, a still operating Apple-1 computer was purchased for $905,000 at Bonhams auction house in New York.