Steve Jobs' $4.01 RadioShack check set to fetch small fortune at auction A few months after he co-founded Apple on April Fool's Day in 1976, Steve Jobs cut a check to RadioShack for $4.01. That same check could now be yours if you're willing to beat the current top bid of $27,500. The rather ornate hand-written check is up for auction until Wednesday through RR Auctions, where 24 bids have been …
Back in the days when RadioShack was everywhere it was the best place to go when you were learning to do electronics and build your own computers, you could just walk in and pick up all the bits to go home and start to learn how to build a computer ... years later it got a great and very accurate illustration of Young Sheldon buying a computer and then becoming the star in The Big Bang Theory.
They were awesome. You could buy any electronic componentry, including 74LSxxxx chips and some CMOS stuff in single quantities and I REALLY miss that.
I recently needed a 1uF capacitor for my garage door and there is no longer anywhere that sells electronic components by the piece to anyone that walks in.
Fortunately, we have Sky Craft in Orlando, which has an entire supermarket size aisle of capacitors. And another aisle of resistors. They even found a Radio Shack store display with component drawers and set it up for us old fogies. Sky Craft started out as aerospace surplus when the space program would scrap an entire computer for having the wrong color paint or something. That practice has stopped, but they still have unique stuff, like equipment parachutes, cleanroom bunny suits, and weird test equipment.
I got a TRS-80 Model I Level I 4K for Christmas, 1979. I remember arguing with my mother about the $160(?) for a Level II kit, for 16K and enhanced BASIC. She worked on mainframes and 16K was an ungodly amount of memory that you'd never use as a single person. She passed away before I was able to show her my desktop with 32GB of RAM.
Fortunately, we have Sky Craft in Orlando, which has an entire supermarket size aisle of capacitors. And another aisle of resistors.
If I ever get back the Orlando I will be in this place, my wife will not be happy but that's a real playground for me. The rest of it sounds like the old J&N Factors Bull Electrical at Brighton. Now called bullybeef I believe. We had a TV end electrical / record shop that also sold the RadioShack (Tandy) catalogue items - though it was an independent shop. And another proper electronics shop that got me started in tinkering. All long gone and missed.
I order from bitsbox, but do a lot of parallel combinations to get the Ω or F value I need.
"they still have unique stuff, like equipment parachutes, cleanroom bunny suits, and weird test equipment."
If you ever find yourself in the Minneapolis, MN, USA area, stop by the Axeman store. The neighborhood used to be a bit sketchy, so use appropriate caution.
And how come it has "re-emerged" decades later as an auction item? I mean, it's not as if Radio Shack would have known that this tiny purchase was going to lead to the formation of a massively successful company in the future, so they;d be better off keeping it instead of sending it to the bank...... Did someone have a spooky premonition? Or maybe Jobs had a pal in the shop who accepted the check as payment, then "forgot" to put it through and accidentally kept it instead.....
They probably got it back from the back once it cleared - some systems still work that way, as a way of acknowledging the transfer - then had to keep it for the tax return or something.
7 years later clearing out the filing cabinets someone looked at it and thought, "Hey, I've heard of that guy."
I can confirm that up until relatively recently (the last 20 years or so), it was standard practice for most banks to return canceled checks to the issuers for record keeping.
I banked with Wells Fargo during that era and even had that "it looks like money" check style for several years. You also got a nice leather wallet/checkbook cover as a side benefit.
> until relatively recently (the last 20 years or so)
I was routinely getting "all" my checks back 7 years ago. Then high-class checks like utility bill payments stopped coming back. I still got back my checks to my mechanic and my propane guy. 3 years ago they all stopped. But I can show you shoeboxes full of cancelled checks just about old enough now to burn.
I remember writing checks to The Shack in about that period. (Also purchase orders.) I can picture $4 as a small buy but it might save the day if I was doing a concert that night. I have whomped-up a line booster in a few hours of fresh RS parts.
I noticed the "and 01/100 dollars" on this cheque which I have never seen, Is only on "checks" :) or Jobs peculiarity?
Having used a cheque book for 40 years I would have always written $4.01 underlining the cents and "FOUR DOLLARS & ONE CENT."
Not that I would be so cheap as to write a cheque for such a piddling sum (even in '76) - my arm has always been long enough to reach down into my pocket to retrieve a $5 note. ;)
Actually thinking about it what would a bank make of say "9 11/37 dollars?" At least with the old money (£sd) fractions of 240 would make some sense... or 480 in ha'pennies or 960 in farthing or 1920 in half farthings :)
Cheques are/were promissory notes so makes sense that they were returned to account holder after clearance. These days you can see the image of your presented/cleared cheque online. Unfortunately in a few yearsthese instruments are scheduled to abolished in these parts. :(
I've always heard it was a practice from way back when paper checks were still new-ish to the average household, both to fill up the line to prevent someone from altering it and to make sure that an unattentive bank employee didn't overlook the decimal point when adjusting your bank balance. Dunno if that's true, but everyone who was my parent's age always claimed to have that horror story of how a $10.00 check was cashed for $1000 and the bank refused to fix it, so take what you will from that.
I agree, it's a thing.
Here's a related thing to the reply to the post asking the question (not to detract from said reply, sorry): I just recently wrote my first check in months [1] [2] for an "even dollar" amount, and per custom -- as learned from my parents -- added "and no/100" to make it clear that "no" (zero) cents are to be added to the dollars involved. Using "00/100" could easily be hand-modified to be "100/100" or more.
As the other reply alluded to, filling up the line prevents even worse manipulation.
1. I pay most everything via direct EFT (mortgage, credit payments, and utility bills) or debit when necessary. Even my weekly charitable giving (church), which was the last one to transition, uses EFT.
2. Coincidentally, it was the last check in the current "book". I may have more books in a "check box" somewhere but can't be bothered to look right now. Let's see how long it takes until I need another physical check!
This post has been deleted by its author
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
