In as late as the 1930's the USDA statistics agency NASS estimated there was over 500 varieties of apple commercially grown in the states. That wasn't that long ago. Nowadays it's about 50 but only a decade earlier it was a dozen or so if you can believe that. The same catastrophe happened in the UK where the revival of local varieties is still slow in coming with collections of trimmings from garden trees from communities across the country. Some varieties are certainly lost forever.
RE: Have you ever grown an apple tree from a seed?