Ron Wayne’s set of four original sketches for the cabinet design of the Apple II personal computer, each signed in the lower right corner in black ink by the Apple co-founder, "Ronald G. Wayne,” who signs over his embossed personal seal. The group includes three conceptual sketches of the Apple II side panel and proposed use of a tambour door for the upper compartment, each accomplished in graphite on individual off-white sheets of drawing paper ranging in size from 17 x 11 to 22 x 17; and a hand-drawn original 10:1 scale blueprint of an “Extrusion, Tamber [sic] Door,” accomplished in graphite on a sheet of 17 x 11 drawing paper, identified as drawing number “00501” in the “Apple Computer” key to the lower right, which Wayne has also signed and dated, “R. G. Wayne, 1/8/77.” The sketches are individually mounted and framed to overall sizes ranging from 20 x 14 to 26 x 20. In overall fine, folded condition.
Accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity from Wayne for each sketch, with all attesting that each was “an original pencil drawing which I, Ronald G. Wayne, created as an early concept for a proposed Apple Computer cabinet design. This further certifies that the original pencil drawing was created personally by the undersigned in December 1976/January 1977, as part of a project delivered to Mr. Steve Jobs. This drawing has been held in my personal possession since it was created.”
Although Ron Wayne’s partnership with Apple was short-lived, he continued to work for and with the company throughout its early years. He famously created Apple’s first logo of Isaac Newton under an apple tree, and he was later contracted by Steve Jobs to produce case designs for the forthcoming, more ambitious Apple II computer.
Provenance: Christie’s Auctions, The Ron Wayne Apple Archive, December 2014.
