Working KenbaK-1 Going Under the Hammer in November

Auction Team Becker has it listed in the catalog for their November 7th, Science, Technology, Automata and Fine Toy auction. Their estimate is 20,000 to 40,000 Euros. One sold recently at a Bohams auction for $31,250, so I expect that is how the Becker’s came up with their estimate.

The Kenbak-1 is often referred to as the first personal computer. It was advertised in the September, 1971 issue of Scientific American magazine for a price of $750. Inventor and producer of the Kenbak-1 was John Blankenbaker. He says about 50 of them were sold.

It’s I/O was limited to front panel LEDs and switches and memory was only 256 bytes. I personally think it was so limited in functionality, that it’s just not that significant of a product. The main target market turned out to be the educational market.

This machine is one reason why I alway include the word practical, when describing the SCELBI-8H as the first “practical computer marketed to hobbyists and individuals”.