Once a familiar sight outside Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, the iconic blue bird logo is back on the auction block. The sign, which loomed over the city as a symbol of the social media giant, is now up for bidding once again—offering collectors a chance to own a piece of tech history.
The bird sign was originally sold in 2023 when Elon Musk, after buying Twitter, auctioned off a bunch of company items. The sale included things like a coffee table, a beer tap, and a Twitter statue—some of which sold for thousands of dollars. RR Auction, the current seller, picked up the sign during that sale and is now putting it back up for bids.
The Twitter bird, nicknamed “Larry” after basketball player Larry Bird, was the company’s famous logo until Musk rebranded the platform as X in 2023. That change wasn’t smooth—when workers tried to remove Twitter’s old signage, police briefly stopped them. Inside the headquarters, the transformation continued, with blue walls turning black and new X-themed conference rooms replacing the old Twitter look. Eventually, Musk moved the company’s headquarters from San Francisco to Texas.
RR Auction estimates the sign’s value at over $40,000. As of Monday evening, bidding had already reached $21,664, with more offers expected before the auction closes on March 20.
The bird sign is part of a larger sale called “Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution,” which also features rare Apple items, like signed checks from Jobs and a working Apple I computer that’s currently going for over $205,000.
Whoever wins the Twitter sign won’t just need deep pockets—they’ll also have to pay for shipping. The massive sign weighs about 560 pounds and is still stored in San Francisco.
“Although Twitter and its light blue bird have since retired, the symbol remains an icon of tech and social media history, an instantly recognizable emblem in the same league as Nike or Apple Computer,” RR Auction said in its listing.
How did the iconic ‘bird’ come to be?
Twitter was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, originally as an SMS-based communication tool. The platform’s earliest logos were simple wordmarks—first “twttr” in green, then “twitter” in blue. The idea of a bird logo emerged early but wasn’t trademarked until 2010, when co-founder Biz Stone named it “Larry the Bird” after NBA star Larry Bird.
The original 2010 logo had a more detailed, mascot-like design with four irregular feathers, a long pointed tail, and a tuft on its head. In 2012, designer Martin Grasser refined it, making the shape more compact and symmetrical. The new version reduced the feather count, shortened the tail, and removed the tuft, creating a cleaner, more balanced look. Every curve in the design followed circular geometry, making it visually pleasing.
The bird’s light blue color also played a key role, ensuring easy recognition on screens. This final version remained Twitter’s iconic logo until Elon Musk replaced it with “X” in 2023.
