Welcome to the greatest retro tech show on earth! As Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s stunning collection of retro technology, historical engineering artefacts, scientific documents and artworks goes up for sale at Christie’s in New York, E+T takes a look at some of the highlights.

Unless otherwise stated, all images are courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd, 2024.

To the world of engineering and technology, Paul Allen is one of the great names of the twentieth century. In the 1970s and 1980s, with the help of childhood friend Bill Gates, he detonated the microcomputer revolution, without which our day-to-day lives would be unrecognisable. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation and amassed a personal wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. As a philanthropist, when he died six years ago he left the worlds of science, technology, education, wildlife conservation and the arts better equipped to face the future. He was also a collector of expensive nerd stuff.

His private technology collection – along...