An encryption engine Enigma with three runners sold for a record price of $269,000 at auction in Bonhams this week. The machine still works properly and was built for the German army in Berlin in July of 1944.
The machines Enigma were, for their time, highly sophisticated encryption devices, and were used to encrypt radio communications by the German armed forces during World War II.
The enormous efforts made by the British to crack the ciphers messages of Enigma, and especially the efforts of Alan Turing, formed the basis for the science of today's computing systems.
The 2012 another Enigma operating engine was sold for 127.000 dollars in London. Cassandra Hatton, director of the Department of History, Science and Technology at Bonhams, said:
"The results of this exciting sale confirm that the demand for scientific and technological discoveries is high and continues to grow."
Among other objects in the auction was a 56 manuscript of his pages Alan Turing, which sold for more than $ 1 million. Bonhams said the manuscript was "written in a simple notebook bought from a paper shop in Cambridge in England, and is the only extensive autograph manuscript of Turing currently in existence.”
Also sold was "a manuscript and a signed letter" from the world's first female computer programmer, Ada Lovelace, for $27.500.
You can read more about Enigma from the articles below on the Hitler Crypto-Machine of our editor Giorgou Koliou.
Enigma, Hitler's Cryptoscope. Part One
Enigma, Hitler's Cryptoscope. Part two
