I never had the original Gameboy, but I do have the original purple GameBoy Color. I actually still play it from time to time, mainly because I can now think reasonably, and I can finish the Pokemon games that I still have.
(I have all of them: Red, Blue, a copy of Pokemon Green that is poorly translated from India, Gold, Silver, Crystal, and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge.) I love the living hell out of that thing.
Unfortunately, the box is probably in Oblivion by now. I actually am thinking of buying an original Gameboy from my local gaming store that sells old consoles. I actually found them selling a cheap NES for a whopping 20$. Man...