Enigma machine 4 sale cheap. Two owners.

Factual Questions
1

OK, so some lightfingered gink lifted the German Enigma encryption machine from a museum display in Bletchley Park, England:

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/frontpage.html?1124027

The press has been quacking on about how “only three are known to exist…”, but this is misleading, as the “only three” figure actually refers to a minor variation of the Enigma. The Germans must have had hundreds (at least) of Enigma machines, in different varieties for Army, Navy, Luftwaffe, diplomatic and intelligence use. They certainly gave at least one to the Japanese. I know of two in Canada, one in a private collection in Ottawa, and the other in the Canadian War Museum collection.

Here’s a quick internet search tally:

One, formerly in Bletchley Park, England: http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/ccc/bpark/morebpark.htm
two, on loan from the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik to the math dept at Arizona State U (great photos!):
http://www.math.arizona.edu/~dsl/ephotos.htm ;
three, in Chicago, “similar to” the one taken from U-505 by US Navy: http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/U505/ENIGMA.html ;
four, on display at the National Security Agency Museum near Baltimore: http://www.nsa.gov/museum/enigma.html ;

This makes 6 that I am aware of, and there are very probably others. I can’t believe that there aren’t several in private collections in the USA, given the huge amount of material sent back by GIs–both officially and unoffically.

What is true is that the machine stolen from Bletchley is a variant used by the German military intelligence service (Abwehr), and there are only three of this particular variation known. Here’s some straight dope on the heisted machine: http://home.cern.ch/f/frode/www/crypto/BPAbwehr/Abwehr_theft.html

Now, my question is this: who would buy it and for how much?

I’ll be scanning ebay, myself.

Launcher may train without warning.

2

Who would buy it? Military enthusiasts are the most fanatic of all collectors. Many of them are not like most art collectors who like to display and show off their collections. I’ve heard of collectors of Nazi paraphenellia that keep their stuff on elaborate display in attics and cellars where only a trusted few friends are allowed to gaze upon them. They keep these artifacts the same way stalkers make shrines to those they obsess over. I can easily picture one of these types paying several thousands of dollars for an Enigma machine so they can sit in their basement and pretend they are Hitler waiting in his bunker for news from the Eastern Front.

In other words, I wouldn’t expect it to show up in a museum, somewhere.

As to the scarcity of Enigma machines; there may be more than three, but probably not much more than that. I’m sure all the operators were trained in how to destroy one. Only a suprise capture/rout or the gross negligence of an operator would result in the survival of such a machine.

3

::This is a test post. Please ignore it. If you see multiposts above, please ignore them, too. I’ll clean them up.::

4
      • The statute of limitations for stolen goods used to be (maybe, still is) a (relatively) extremely short time, four years IIRC, in Japan. Many stolen art works/ collectibles have turned up for sale there mysteriously, just after their “statute” from the date they were stolen was up.
  • In the last few years, the economic booms in China and the former Soviet republics has resulted in lots of stolen property being taken into those countries. - MC
5
      • The statute of limitations for stolen goods used to be (maybe, still is) a (relatively) extremely short time, four years IIRC, in Japan. Many stolen art works/ collectibles have turned up for sale there mysteriously, just after their “statute” from the date they were stolen was up.
  • In the last few years, the economic booms in China and the former Soviet republics has resulted in lots of stolen property being taken into those countries. - MC
6

I wouldn’t buy it of course, because it’s stolen property. But damn, I sure would like to have a spare one to tinker with. Same with the Norton bomb sight.
Jack

7

Perhaps, but stolen property (at least in the US) doesn’t become the property of the thief just because the statute of limitations for the theft has expired. The SOL doesn’t reward thieves with fabulous prizes if they manage to elude capture. The stolen property would be confiscated and returned to the legal owner. While the SOL for the theft may have expired, the goods are still stolen and anyone trafficking in stolen goods has committed a new crime. Additionally the original thief could be nabbed on conspiracy charges, which can be filed from the date of the most recent act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

8

I have always heard that Swiss law permits a person who bought property in good faith to keep the property, even if it’s stolen. I have no idea if that’s so, and it seems unworkable to me… but perhaps someone with the real Straight Dope will chime in.

As Otto suggests, in the U.S., a purchaser of a stolen piece of property is not permitted to keep in, even if bought in good faith.

  • Rick
9

I think you mean the Norden bombsight. Unless the Norton bombsight was what Ed Norton used on the Honeymooners to exterminate sewer alligators…

10

Jake said:

Here’s your virtual Enigma. Don’t get your new clothes dirty, and no invading Poland, we have to go out later.

http://www.adelheid.demon.co.uk/enigma.html

Launcher may train without warning.

11

Spare one? How many do you have?

12

The following message is encoded via ENIGMA:
@#DDY^^ FRR#@&** HYYYTD NU*((% HHGTT DDEENNKK GGH YYU DDR%^HH OIOKMMB VVFF

$1,000,000 to whoever provides the correct translation!