Fwd: ENIGMA on a flea-market

Wednesday 12 July 2017

German Enigma Machine Found at Flea Market Fetches $51,000 at Auction
---------------------------------------------------------------------

George Dvorsky

A professor of cryptology has auctioned off a rare and fully-functional 
Enigma machine used by the Nazis to encrypt messages during the Second 
World War. Incredibly, the collector found the machine at a flea market 
in Bucharest—which suggests Romania may house other machines still 
waiting to be discovered.

As reported in Deutsche Welle, the unnamed collector knew what he had 
stumbled upon at the flea market, and cooly snatched it up for 100 euros 
( $115 ). He then put it up for sale at the city’s Artmark auction house 
with a starting bid of 9,000 euros ( $10,265 ). On Tuesday, the rare 
cryptographic machine sold to an unnamed online bidder for 45,000 euros 
( $51,620 ). A very healthy return on investment, to be sure.
Image: Artmark

Enigma machines were invented by the Germans in the 1930s and were used 
by its armed forces to transmit encrypted messages during the Second 
World War. Romania was allied to Nazi Germany at the time, so it makes 
sense that the unit was found in the Balkan country. Famously, the 
breaking of the Enigma system by computer scientist Alan Turing at 
Bletchley park ( with prior help from Polish spies and scientists ) 
contributed to the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII.

The unit which sold on Tuesday is in pristine condition and it’s still 
useable. An Enigma 1, it was produced in Berlin by Heimsoeth & Rinke in 
1941, and it’s still in the original wooden box.

Around 20,000 Enigma machines of various types were manufactured in the 
1930s and 1940s, but only a handful have survived. Around 50 Enigma 
machines of various sorts are currently on display at museums around the 
world, with many more in the hands of private collectors.

In 2015, an even rarer Enigma M4 machine sold at auction for a record 
$365,000. The M4, named for its four rotors ( the Enigma 1 has three 
rotors ), was manufactured during the latter stages of the war. Only 150 
remain from the 1,500 ever built.

[Deutsche Welle]


http://gizmodo.com/german-enigma-machine-found-at-flea-market-fetches-51-1796845819

http://www.dw.com/en/valuable-german-wwii-enigma-machine-found-in-flea-market/a-39650488

http://www.dw.com/en/flea-market-enigma-machine-sells-for-45000-euros/av-39653901

http://www.artmark.ro/masina-de-criptat-enigma-folosita-de-armata-germana-in-timpul-celui-de-al-doilea-razboi-mondial-model-1941-piesa-de-muzeu-extrem-de-rara.html

https://www.livescience.com/59781-enigma-machine-sells-at-auction.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40583718

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/92A4/production/_96904573_dc279a60-3b53-48db-b5a5-3722743e9cb2.jpg

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-auction-enigma-idUSKBN19W2M9