A factory sealed, first-generation iPhone sold at auction for $63,356.40 – more than 100 times its original price – after a woman was given the phone as a gift in 2007, but never opened it because because he doesn’t want to lose his others. telephone.
The 2007 phone, still sealed in its box, was consigned by the owner and sold by LCG Auctions after bidding closed on Sunday.
In total, 27 people bid for the phone which is expected to sell for $50,000.
The item is up for auction on February 2.
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Karen Green, the original owner of the phone according to the listing, appraised it in 2019. Since it’s an 8GB – not 4GB – and still in the original box, it’s estimated to be worth $5,000.
In 2007, the phone came out and, that summer, Green was given the phone when he got a job managing PetSmart, according to Business Insider.
At the time, Green already had three phone lines with Verizon, and iPhones would only use AT&T, the outlet reported. To avoid an expensive termination fee, he “left the phone on a shelf for years, unopened and unused, wrapped in a pair of felt pajamas for extra measure.”
“I don’t want to get rid of my new phone,” Green said in a 2019 appearance on “Doctor & The Diva.”
When Green recently heard of another original, unlocked iPhone listing on eBay for $10,000, something clicked.
“I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, I think I have the original,'” he told the outlet. “I called my son and I said, ‘Go pick up the phone and make sure it’s not unlocked.”
Now, 15 years later, he is $63,000 richer.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers fashion news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at nalund@usatoday.com and follow him on Twitter @nataliealund