On Sunday, an unopened 8-GB first-generation iPhone, still in its factory-sealed box, sold at auction for an astonishing $63,356.40. The phone was estimated to fetch at least $50,000, but its final sale price far exceeded expectations. In fact, the Apple relic sold for over 100 times its original price of $599 in 2007. The LCG Auction’s website reported that the bidding for the 2007 phone began on February 2nd, starting at $2,500, and received online bids from 27 individuals via LCG auctions.
During its release in 2007, the first-generation iPhone boasted an innovative touchscreen, a web browser, and a 2 MP camera. At that time, consumers could purchase the model with 4 GB of storage for $499, or opt for the 8 GB version for $599, which was the one that went under the hammer. By the end of the auction on Sunday, the product – which was still sealed in its original packaging – had received 27 bids. A photograph of the phone still encased in an unopened black box was displayed on the auction website.
According to a Business Insider report, cosmetic tattoo artist Karen Green originally received the iPhone over ten years ago as a gift. However, she couldn’t use it since it was designed to work only on AT&T’s network at the time, and she was with Verizon. As a result, she never opened the package and kept it unused on her shelf for twelve years as she wasn’t ready to switch carriers.
In 2019, she had the phone appraised on the TV show “The Doctor & The Diva,” during its “Treasure Hunt” segment. The show’s appraiser valued it at $5,000, but Green chose to keep it, convinced that it would never go out of date. After all, it is an Apple iPhone device. In October of that same year, Green learned that an unopened, first-generation iPhone had sold for $39,339 in an earlier LCG auction.
Green however said she had no plans to sell the iPhone but chose to do so as she needed money to support her digital tattoo studio in New Jersey.
