Ok, ok. I gave Apple a hard time over its iPhone Pocket, a glorified sock cut down the belly for people who have so much money to spend on it ($150 for the “cheap” version) that they don’t even care that their iPhone could tumble out of its non-zippered pocket because, hey, they could probably just afford another iPhone at that point.
And then I dog-piled onto Apple the same day by bringing up its past flops. So here I am, again pointing out products that Apple must’ve commissioned after somebody used way too much highlighter in an enclosed room with poor airflow.
But this time the joke’s on us, because these pieces of gear went on to become very valuable on the used market. And most of the time, they weren’t even sold to the public when new.
apple kicks
Back in March 2020, when the world was getting weird with its Covid-19 lockdowns and people were looking for ways to spend money, this pair of Apple-branded sneakers sold at auction for just shy of $10,000, as reported at the time by Gizmodo.
They were given away by Apple to those attending a national sales conference sometime in the mid-1990s, and only that one time.
a “picasso” apple dealer sign
Obviously, it wasn’t created by the man himself, but rather by artist Susan Kare, who the auction house Christie’s called “artist/designer behind the core graphics of the original Macintosh” in a September 2024 auction that saw one of these signs sell for $37,800.
According to the auction house, these signs were handed out to Apple dealers in the mid-1980s to advertise the Macintosh line of computers.
big chunk of appreciation aluminum
Here’s a recent one that Apple employees still receive after completing 10 years at the company. It’s a block of the same 6000-series aluminum they make Macs out of, with a shiny, reflective Apple logo on top.
These tend to pop up on eBay with asking prices of $300-600. Want it in space gray? That’ll cost you. Space gray versions are reserved for Apple employees celebrating 20 years with the company, and so there are far fewer floating around. One sold at auction last week for $5,316. That’s as many as three new MacBook Pro M5s.
The post The Weird Apple Employee-Only Merch That Turned Into Collector Gold appeared first on VICE.
