The history of these devices is facinating. Can't be too many more of these original machines still around. Wonder how this one came to be in private hands? Any bets as to what it might go for? I would think upward of $250,000. I know that one was stolen a few years ago from a museum in England, and later recovered. Holy Bletchley Park, 007!!!

A WWII collectable of this rarity and history could perhaps bring more than that! It would only depend on the wealth of the collector and his desire to have it. As you say, there are not many of them available and rare historical items that have had movies made based on the history are, I would think, VERY valuable!. Especially to shotgun collectors making lists of future purchases and wishing to keep that information from budget minded wives.

Hey, I didn't think of that! One could "encrypt" all your collection's information from prying eyes. Neat! Or you could get two, send one to your girl friend, etc. The possibilities are endless.

he has quite bit of WW II stuff that has some suprising estimates.One has to wonder how much stuff is sitting in old footlockers that no one knows about.

there is a interesting writeup on Ultra and their decoding of the Enigma and how helped defeat the Germans.
http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/military_technology/3033696.html?featured=y&c=y

I once talked to a WWII vet who was a German POW camp. He said he came down with an intestinal bug and they used some sort of machine to give him an enigma. I'll bet he'd be surprised to know how much they are worth now!

Greg, I think that is a vituperative use of the King's
English ;-) otherwise known as a malapropisim. Could you be a bit more Pacific?

edit: DaveK, Thanks also for the ref. good read

DaveK,

Thanks for posting that link. It was avery interesting read.

Best regards,
David

Those machines were not at all uncommon. However, they were treated as classified items for a VERY long time after the war. (The "Ultra secret" wasn't officially declassified until some time in maybe the 70's, if I recall correctly.) Retreating German military units undoubtedly destroyed a lot of them to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, but the Allies must've policed up bunches of them by the time the war ended.

For those interested in the whole code/cipher business, google "venona" for some interesting information on our codebreaking efforts against the Russians.

Glad you enjoyed the site link,David and TW, I could spend hours on there reading different stories(hit the link for WW II).

L Brown, according to that link yes Ultra was indeed kept secret untill the 70's.It baffles me that the Germans did not consider the codes could have been broken and instead suspected a "inside info" was more at fault.
They also have abit about Venona and Alger Hiss connection:
"Another piece of evidence came to light in 1996 when the CIA and National Security Agency made public several thousand documents of decoded cables exchanged between Moscow and its American agents from 1939 to 1957. These materials were part of a secret intelligence project called "Venona." A single document, dated March 30, 1945, referred to an agent code-named "Ales," a State Department official who had flown from the Yalta Conference to Moscow. An anonymous footnote, dated more than 20 years later, suggested "Ales" was "probably Alger Hiss." Hiss, one of only four men who had flown from Yalta to Moscow, issued a statement denying he was "Ales." He went to Moscow merely to see the subway system, he said."

http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3032686.html?page=1&c=y

This machine could be a non-military commercial model that Enigma was selling by 1920. I really like these old mechanical or electo-mechanical computers, my favorite being the fire control computer on the Iowa class battleships for the 16" rifles. It was not replaced during the re-fit of The Big Stick, as it was not going to be affected by EMP. So if the balloon went up, that old analog Iowa could still send 1 ton shells over the horizon, very accurately.

A guy used to bring one (enigma) to the Great Western gun show every year for many years, here in LA. The first time I saw it, he had it for sale for something like $3k or $4k, the last time I saw it, he had $7k as the asking price. That was 7-8 yrs ago.

If you want to read more than the article, the book "Seizing the Enigma" is a good read. It's by David Kahn, who wrote the classic "The Codebreakers," subtitled "The History of Secret Writing" which exactly describes it.

Also virtually indispensible for outlining the procedure for disassembling a Darne. KBM

Secret writing, or SW, is usually invisible until the proper "developer" (usually heat, in the most rudimentary or "scorch" systems) is applied. Sort of the precursor to codes and cyphers, although you could use SW and then encypher the message as an additional precaution.

We were still playing around with SW back in my CIA days (late 60's-early 70's). The problem our chemists had was not in developing very good and difficult to detect SW formulas, but rather making developing them on the receiving end simple enough so that someone without a PhD in chemistry could handle the chore. "Crush pill A. Mix into one pint of water. Stir for 5 minutes. Crush pill B. Repeat the procedure. Swab onto message." Fun stuff to play with.

If you want to fool around with a very good basic SW system, put a sheet of wax paper between 2 sheets of paper (as you would have used a carbon in the old days). Write the clear text message in pencil, preferably of the wooden variety. The developer for the "secret" message, on the underneath sheet, can be any one of a number of things. Sprinkle on some black pepper and swish it around a bit. Neat system which requires neither heat nor anything wet to develop.