Rare Apple computer worth $200K left at California recycling center

MILPITAS, Calif. (WPVI) -- This story is kind of like your mom tossing out your old comic books and baseball cards. A South Bay recycling company is looking for the woman who cleaned out her garage and dropped off an Apple 1 vintage computer worth $200,000.

A recycling company in Milpitas made the surprising discovery.

"It was like you know, like you won the lottery," said Victor Gichun with CleanBayArea.

Last month, a woman dropped off several boxes of what she thought was junk

"She brought like, two or three boxes like you can see on table with some stuff like wires, cables, keyboards, old stereo, something like that," Gichun said.

But inside one of those boxes was a vintage Apple 1 desktop, one of only 200 first generation models created in 1976. One is on display right now at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

After some research, Clean Bay Area sold the Apple 1 to a private collector for $200,000.

They're now looking for the original owner, who didn't leave a name.

"I said, 'do you need a pick up receipt or a tax receipt?' She said, 'no, no I'm fine. Just want to clean up garage,'" said Gichun.

The company wants to honor its policy by giving her half the proceeds from the sale.

"Her husband passed away recently," Gichun said. "And I don't know her financial situation, but I think it can really help her."

The recycling company says all she needs to do is come down and pick up her check.