collecting an Enigma? [was: Antiques man guilty of Enigma charge

[Hadmut Danisch]

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






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