The Most Collectible PCs of All Time

Is that computer in your attic a treasure...or trash? Here's the scoop on 19 historic digital antiques, worth from $10 to $10,000 and beyond.

Harry McCracken

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Scelbi-8H (Scelbi Computer Consulting, 1973). Estimated units sold: several hundred; original price: $580 (kit); current market value: at least $5000 to $10,000 17 of 19

The Scelbi may have been touted in ads as a "mini-computer," but it was really a microcomputer--by most definitions, the first real one sold in the United States. Marketed as a kit for buyers to assemble themselves, it was based on Intel's 8008 chip and offered 1KB of RAM (expandable to 16KB via a $2760 upgrade option). Unlike the MITS Altair, which came along a couple of years later, the Scelbi wasn't a hit. But the fact that so few were manufactured makes it a far more valuable machine on the collector's market. (Photo courtesy of H.A. Layer.)