Auction Action

You probably remember when the new iPhone came out in 2007, because you remember Steve Jobs, head of the Apple orchard, in his black turtleneck and beat-up jeans, striding around the stage, showing off the electronic marvel. 

Sure! A phone that had a PC and a camera and just about everything else, all sized to fit in your pocket. It was The Thing To Have right away

And at the same time, a woman by the name of Karen Green was starting a new job, and her friends figured, what better gift to start her off with than that first-generation iPhone? So they bought her one.

But Ms Green already had a cell phone, not a smart one. It was probably a flip phone. And it was a brand new phone for her and she was happy with her Verizon service contract and did not wish to go with AT&T.

So just like that off-putting chartreuse scarf from Aunt Rozene, the gift stayed in its box.

"I didn't want to get rid of my new [not-smart] phone, and I figured it's an iPhone, so it'll never go out of date," Green told a daytime television program in 2019. Some "expert" on the show told her that her 8GB antique was worth maybe $5,000.

Well. Guess again, because that Price was not Right. Green put that phone up for an online auction recently, and someone paid her $63,356.40 for it. That's over  100 times more than its original cost.

The deal was handled by LCG Auctions out of Lousiana.  They describe the relic as a hot item for electronic collectors and said it "presents magnificently, showcasing sharp corners front and back, rich color, and 'case fresh' features."

Of course, it's hard to find an unused, unopened iPhone because everyone who got one wanted to use it right away.

Now and then you find a story about someone who bought one of the first Ford Mustangs in 1964 and put it away in a barn for safe keeping, only to wind up never driving it for some reason. 

Closest I can come is a Carhartt jacket that a woman at a flea market we go to had bought for her boyfriend just before he dumped her. She sold that coat to me for far less than she had paid for it, just to get it out of her closet and into mine, where it still keeps me warm all these years later.

Let's see an iPhone do that!