Commodore C65 Serial No. 3: The US$18,350 Auction
Originally published 16 May 2019 · Updated 6 November 2026
What was sold?
The auction concerned a Commodore C65, also known as the Commodore 65, an advanced 8-bit computer developed as a successor to the Commodore 64 but never released commercially. The machine was described as having a revision 2A motherboard marked “3” in one location and “D3” in another. Those markings underpin this page's identification of the machine as Serial No. 3; they should not be confused with a separately verified factory serial-number register.
The seller reported that the VIC-III graphics chip was absent, leaving the prototype non-functional. Other major components or sockets—including the 4510 processor, DMAgic, floppy-disk controller, RAM, ROM and SID—were described as populated. The important qualification is that populated does not demonstrate that every component had been tested or that the machine could be restored simply by replacing one chip.
The seller's description
The motherboard is a revision 2A board with the number “3” written on it in one spot and “D3” written in another spot. The computer is missing the VIC-III chip so it is non-functional. The 4510, DMAgic, FDC, RAM, ROM and SID sockets are populated with the correct chips.
Primary source: Archived eBay listing for item 222630201237. The record is an archived sales listing, rather than a modern condition assessment.
What does the missing VIC-III mean?
The VIC-III, identified in Commodore's C65 system documentation as the CSG 4567 enhanced video controller, was central to the machine's expanded display capabilities. Unlike an ordinary Commodore 64 component, a prototype-specific custom chip is not necessarily available as a straightforward replacement. The missing device therefore matters to both the computer's operability and its value as a historical specimen.
For more detail, see the site's C65 system engineering specification and memory map. The original listing provides no conclusive repair diagnosis beyond the seller's statement that the machine was not working.
Was it used in a Commodore laboratory?
The seller said they had been told the machine might have been used in a Commodore laboratory. Solvent marks near the floppy drive were cited as a possible clue. That is an interesting provenance story, but not proof of where this individual computer worked or how the marks arose. For a collector, documentary provenance, photographs of board markings and a clear account of missing parts are more reliable than an attractive anecdote.
Why pay US$18,350 for an incomplete computer?
A C65 is not simply a rare example of a mass-produced model. It is a surviving prototype from a product that never reached retail shelves. Its appeal includes the distinctive case, the experimental custom hardware and the opportunity to study an unrealised branch of Commodore's design history. Even an incomplete machine can have considerable research and exhibition value.
The recorded US$18,350 sale is also independently mentioned in the contemporary Eight Bit magazine, issue 5, which describes a non-functional C65 without its VIC-III selling for that amount in 2017. It is a historical transaction, not an estimate of what this particular machine would fetch today.
What this prototype can still tell us
Three details make this auction especially useful as a historical record: its reported revision 2A board, the handwritten “3” and “D3” markings, and the inventory of present and missing custom chips. Together they help distinguish this specimen from other C65 sales. Comparing these features against other documented machines may eventually clarify prototype revisions and survival histories without assuming that every example followed the same development path.
For researchers, the lesson is simple: preserve auction photographs, descriptions, dates and identifiers alongside the sale price. The price makes the headline, but the technical evidence makes the record valuable long after the listing has disappeared.
