It's certainly possible to get an excellent apple from seed -- that's how ALL apples start. When breeders work with fruit, they plant out thousands of seedlings and then cull out all but a few that are the best of the best.

And yes, I have a seed-grown tree from Jonathan that makes excellent quality fruit very similar to its parent.

As to whether or not your parents did a switch on you, well, I guess you would have to ask them if possible, they would be the only ones to be able to give you a definitive answer.

It is simple to propagate apples by grafting. If it's not something you would be comfortable doing yourself, there are a number of nurseries that will do custom grafts from scion wood you supply to them. This generally has to be done in the winter when dormant (although some fruit trees are budded in the summer as well, not sure about apples, I'm not good with grafting).

Thank you very much Denninmi! I know very little about fruit trees and it is a bit silly but it is a relief to know that it is most likely the same tree.
I doubt it will be clamored after by many commercial breeders as the fruit is very similar to its parent (a macintosh) but with firmer flesh. The tree is an eating apple almost perfectly suited to me so it is another relief to know I'll be able to bring it with me if I were to move, which is some years away.Thanks again Denninmi!

I grew one from a Golden Delicious seed (about 30 years ago in Tennessee) that produces medium-size tart red apples. On a 40' tall tree. My name is Andy, so I called it Andy-licious. A friend's son told me that he got several good bucks at my old place, drawn there by those apples.\

Johnny Appleseed is not a bad thing to be, and a lot of seedling will make good fruit. But likely not better than the variety you planted.

Figandvine, the story about apple seedlings not producing good fruit is 100% bogus, an urban legend at best. 95% of the world's best apple varieties, that is 95% of the more than 5,000 available varieties are in fact chance seedlings - that's more than 4000 varieties. Some of the most delicious apples didn't come from breeding programs, they originated on some compost pile or a hedge somewhere where no one weeds or mows.

True, if you want a uniform, perfect sized, perfectly colored middle of the road apple easy to ship, easy to grow (a.k.a. disease resistant) and flavored for marketing to the masses, then yes, you will have to grow about 2000 seedlings to find one even better than the parents. But that is simply not true for backyard apples.

A friend of mine found several new varieties from seedling rootstock that had taken over in an abandoned apple orchard. One is called "Banana Flower", tastes just like a banana. Another one is called vanilla pippin, a delicious, vanilla flavored apple. There are several more he found, everything from a September ripening pink lady-like apple to a very late deep purple skinned long keeper.

True, you can get a dud, especially if your apple seeds come from apples grown in a commercial orchard where they use crab apples as pollinators. Then your chances of getting a crab apple are higher. But in general, you are very likely to get a pretty darn good apple.

Now I would be more than delighted to have my orchard serve as a genetic backup for your seedling. Please send me some scion wood next Winter and i will grow it here. If you ever loose the original tree, or have to move, you can then get scion wood back from me and regrow your tree on a rootstock. It would also behoove you to name the apple, and distribute it to yet other folks, because the more people grow it, the less likely it is it will disappear. If others like it, they will then pass it on to yet other people.

Axel:
Does your friend sell scionwood? I would love to have a banana AND a vanilla-flavored apple!

Carla in Sac

I t-budded some buds onto G11 rootstock last year that come from a very large old apple tree on the edge of town, next to a long abandoned house. Some of the grafts were planted in 2 gallon pots and overwintered just fine under mulch. Over the last 2 years, I observed the tree to have excellent resistance to CAR and Scab with a fruit my wife likes. The buds are doing well and are being referred to as, "Judy's Favorite" as I suspect the tree was planted from seed long ago.

Fig, every cultivated (grafted) variety grown today began as a tree grown from seed.

It doesn't matter what the odds are, some new breeds are just good. Sounds like you've got a winner.

Propagate with a graft, like denninmi says.