Steve Jobs wrote a check in 1976 to Radio Shack. Now it’s up for auction

It’s a pristine piece of Silicon Valley history — and it comes with a famous autograph.

A check that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs made out to Radio Shack on July 23, 1976, just months after the pioneering computer company was founded, has gone up for auction.

The latest bid tops $30,000, with less than a day remaining in the sale by RR Auction. Bidding will close Wednesday, Dec. 6, with any initial bids required by 3 p.m. PST.

The check is made out on an Apple Computer Company account opened at a Wells Fargo branch in Los Altos. Listed is Apple’s first official address at 770 Welch Rd., Ste. 154, Palo Alto — “the location of an answering service and mail drop that they used while still operating out of the famous Jobs family garage,” the listing says.

RR Auction, a Boston-based specialist in Jobs and Apple memorabilia, calls Radio Shack an “unsung hero” of the personal computing revolution and notes that co-founder Steve Wozniak would spend hours roaming the aisles of the store.

According to an RR executive, the artifact comes from a private collector who has had it in his collection since the 1990s. The neatly penned check features Jobs’ signature — with lowercase “s” and “j,” as was his style, a handwriting expert for the auction house said.

In August, an Apple Computer check made out to Ramlor Inc. in 1976 and signed by both Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak sold at auction for $135,261.