On Thu, Sep 27, 2001 at 10:37:23AM -0400, Pat Farrell wrote: > > Does anyone know if there is a legal collector's market for Enigma > machines? >
Some years ago, when I was at the university, the institute had one enigma, which was bought at an auction. If I remember well, it had cost about DM 15.000,- (about 7,100 US$). The machine was in a very good condition, everything worked well (of course, the original battery was removed), even most of the light bulbs were still working. It was, however, a very simple version (three wheels, no separate wheels, no plug board) and I think, it was a commercial version. The box was obviously modified after WWII to remove the signs and labels of the Nazis, but except from that also in a good shape. A friend of mine collects old mechanical calculation machines and therefore used to visit auctions. There are special auctions for these machines and the catalogues usually contained about 1-2 pages of old encryption machines as well (mostly Enigma or Hagelin), but it's about 4 years ago that I've seen such a catalogue. Prices may have increased meanwhile. However, there is definitly a huge market for legal (and probably also stolen ones) calculation machines, including encryption machines. regards Hadmut --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
