Apple founder Steve Jobs’ tattered sandals sold at auction for $200,000
The Birkenstocks sandals worn by Steve Jobs in the early days of Apple were expected to fetch between $60,000 and $80,000. However, one of the participants volunteered to give much more — $218,750 — for the legend’s old shoes.
Well, and got a book and a non-fungible token (NFT) to go with it.
Jobs apparently wore Birkenstock Arizona sandals back in the 1970s and 80s, when he was just starting Apple. They were actually pulled out of the trash by Mark Sheff, who managed Jobs’ estate.
Describing how he got the sandals in a 2016 Business Insider article, Scheff explains that Jobs ‘kept very few things,’ so Mark grabbed the sandals when Steve was ready to throw them away.
blockquote “Some things we kept, some we shared with friends. The collection we received is quite random,’ he told Insider at the time. /blockquote
Scheff originally auctioned the sandals in 2016, where they sold for about $2,000, NPR reported.
Apple founder Steve Jobs’ tattered sandals sold at auction for $200,000
This time, Jobs’ sandals (and the NFT) were estimated to be between $60,000 and $80,000, but the final price exceeded all expectations.
“Sandals have been used several times but appear intact. The cork sole preserves Steve Jobs’ footprints, which were formed after years of wear,’ the description reads.
While we don’t know the person who purchased the shoes, NPR says the buyer placed the winning bid at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Before the sandals were put up for auction a second time, they were displayed at various exhibitions, including the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy, Birkenstock headquarters in Germany, and the first Birkenstock store in the United States, located in Soho, New York.
In 2012, a memo from Steve Jobs and a working Apple I motherboard sold at auction for $400,000, while a rare prototype VideoPad scrapped by Jobs sold for around $14,000 last year.
In 2021, Steve Jobs’ handwritten employment letter from 1973 sold at auction for $222,400. In the same year, an Apple II computer manual signed by Steve Jobs sold for $787,483.
The shoes were sold at Julien’s Auctions’ ‘Icons & Idols: Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ which featured memorabilia, clothing, musical equipment and jewelry from musicians and pop culture figures including Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon.
Last October, a pair of Nike Air Ship sneakers worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan sold for $1.47 million, breaking the record for the highest price ever sold for a pair of shoes at auction.
