CHRISTIE’S • LONDON • 1997

The Coverdisc
Archive

An auction of every demonstration included on the cover-mounted compact disc of Personal Computer World, June 1997. Each lot offered with full provenance and original media.

These five demonstrations represent the complete contents of the June 1997 cover disc. Each title was supplied by its publisher for promotional purposes and has remained in its original sealed sleeve since the disc was first pressed at the Philips plant in Eindhoven.

01

Myst — Cyan Worlds

1993Macintosh & Windows

The complete opening island of Myst, limited to the first twenty minutes of exploration. The original executable remains untouched; the accompanying 24-page printed manual still bears the faint pencil notes of the reviewer who first mapped the clock tower mechanism in 1994.

Estimate £1,400 — £1,900
02

Quake Shareware — id Software

1996MS-DOS

The full shareware episode containing the slipgate complex. Original 1.06 executable with intact sound drivers for Sound Blaster 16. The included text file still references the now-defunct id Software BBS telephone number in Texas.

Estimate £2,100 — £2,800
03

Deus Ex Machina II — Automata

1985 / 1997 updateAmiga & PC

The 1997 Windows re-release of the 1985 interactive music drama. The disc carries both the original 8-bit soundtrack and the newly recorded narration by Ian Dury. The auction lot includes the original flexi-disc that accompanied the 1985 magazine insertion.

Estimate £680 — £920
04

SimCity 2000 — Maxis

1993Windows 3.1

A time-limited demonstration featuring the city of “Dullsville” pre-loaded with the reviewer’s own 1995 save file. The disaster menu remains fully functional; the included readme notes the precise date the reviewer’s nuclear plant first melted down.

Estimate £920 — £1,250
05

Command & Conquer — Westwood Studios

1995MS-DOS

The complete first GDI mission. The executable still contains the original copy-protection code wheel references printed on the reverse of the jewel-case insert. The lot is accompanied by the original coverdisc sleeve bearing the reviewer’s handwritten high-score tally.

Estimate £1,650 — £2,200