Serial212

Serial 212 / Seattle

Provenance: Little is known about the early history of this machine. It seems that this was sold on eBay August 1, 2005 for $10,850, from seller "AuburnAlabam" to buyer "CollectRHC." Attempts to identify the buyer and seller was has never been successful. But since it soon appeared in the Living Computers Museum (LCM) in Seattle Washington, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, one must wonder if "CollectRHC" was somehow related to Allen's "Flying Heritage Collection" which was a military airplane museum he opened just before his computer museum.

When Paul Allen died, his estate including his vast art collection and two museums was auctioned off. This computer's current location is unknown, but the new owner is obviously of great means, as they paid over $166,000 to acquire it, so hopefully it will arrive in a public museum at some point.

The first five of these photos are Copyright the Authors of this site, but usable by CC Licensing below.

On Display LCM

4032 x 1960

Crop of Above

2986 x 1490

Serial Number 212

4032 x 1960

Display in Museum

1360 x 765

Next to a Mark-8 magazine issue, a SCEBI 8H, an Intel 4004 single board computer, and an Intel Intellec 4/40 development system. These are some of the most important important 1971 to 1974 small computers.

Different angle

1360 x 1020

Christie's Auction Photos,, September 2024 (copyright retained by Christie's.)

Christie's Front

3200 x 2133

availble at https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-paul-g-allen-collection/kenbak-1-digital-computer-121/230059

Christie's Front/Right

3200 x 2133

available at https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-paul-g-allen-collection/kenbak-1-digital-computer-121/230059

Christie's Right

3200 x 2133

available at https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-paul-g-allen-collection/kenbak-1-digital-computer-121/230059

Christie's Back

3200 x 2133

available at https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/firsts-history-computing-paul-g-allen-collection/kenbak-1-digital-computer-121/230059

eBay Listing July 25, 2005 (maybe purchased by LCM in Seattle?)

This is a screen save of the eBay auction ending August 1st, 2005, from seller Auburnalabam in Collinsville, Alabama to buyer CollectRHC. The seller seems to know enough about it to turn it on, and press buttons, so would seem to be the owner, but didn't want to guarantee functionality. One must wonder if CollectRHC was Paul Allen, maybe somehow related to Allen's "Flying Heritage Collection" which he acquired items for just prior to the Living Computer's Museum. Attempts to contact the seller for more information was unsuccessful.

Page 2 of listing, with questions (one is from John Blankenbaker's daughter)

eBay Photo, 2005

400 x 300

Closeup of the photo in the above eBay listing.

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