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It was much later that cheap, but improperly copied, electrolytic capacitors started to be widely used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Even equipment from the 1950s rarely have to have their capacitors replaced, though sometimes they have to be "reformed".

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Nonetheless old capacitors degrade, despite predating the plague. It’s SOP among retro computer folks to recap 80s/90s micros to avoid electrolyte damaging the boards, and I’ve had 80s-era Unix workstations go pop when powered on.

For most things I’d expect there to be no difference between the value of a computer with original caps _and no damage_ and one with recaps _and no damage_, because the buyer is going to recap anyway. For this Apple I, which is a museum piece rather than a hobby piece, I really don’t know if that holds.

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