His appearance at KansasFest 2013 and recent write up on the development of Integer BASIC notwithstanding, Woz has spent much of his time recently battling the FCC’s controversial new net “neutrality” policies and generally looking to the future. This is understandable of course – you can only tell the same stories of the company’s early days so many times before they lose a bit of their luster – but the Apple co-founder still finds time now and then to spend an afternoon, recounting the past as he did when he appeared as the “surprise” guest at the Smith & Associates Thirtieth Anniversary in Houston, Texas earlier this week (in a suit jacket, no less).

From left: Lee Ackerley, co-founder and co-owner of Smith; Marc Barnhill, chief trading officer for Smith; Bob Ackerley, co-founder and co-owner of Smith; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. (Olivia Pulsinelli/HBJ)

Woz shared anecdotes of Apple’s founding, and explained to lucky attendees to the “fireside chat” and luncheon how factors such as the company’s organization in its early years and the professionalism brought by industry vet and initial investor Mike Markkula, helped Apple achieve success in the then-nascent industry.

PRWeb has the original press release available here.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that any video of the chat has been posted online, but we’ll be sure to update you the moment it is made available.

The Apple Computer Company Partnership Agreement, which established Apple as a partnership between Jobs, Woz and Ron Wayne and was signed by all three co-founders, went for an incredible $1.35 million dollars at a Sotheby’s auction yesterday.  Once you add in all the various fees attached to the sale, the final cost weighs in at a hefty $1.6 million.  Expected to fetch as much as $150,000 in Tuesday’s auction, the three-page typewritten document was made obsolete when the new Apple Computer Co., was officially created on January 3, 1977 and bought out the nine month old partnership.  Wayne kept the document and later sold it to a collectible documents dealer who then sold it to a private collector in the late 1990s.

This should put to rest any doubt about the increasing hunger for early Apple II collectibles, especially through legitimate auction houses.

Then again, it’s still possible to get lucky and find a gem like this for a steal at an estate auction or thrift store.