**World War II’s ‘Enigma’ code machine sold for record $547,500 at auction**
A rare World War II German Enigma code machine has sold for a record $547,500 at auction in the United States. The machine, which was used by the German military to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, was sold by Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday. The winning bidder was not immediately identified.
The Enigma machine was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius in the early 1920s. It was first used by the German military in the 1930s, and it played a key role in the German war effort during World War II. The machine was used to encrypt messages sent between German military units, and it was also used to decode messages sent by Allied forces.
The Enigma machine was a complex and sophisticated device, and it was initially thought to be unbreakable. However, in 1940, Polish mathematicians Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rózycki, and Henryk Zygalski developed a method for breaking the Enigma code. This breakthrough allowed the Allies to read German military messages, and it is credited with helping to shorten the war.
After the war, the Enigma machine was used by a variety of organizations, including the US military and the CIA. Today, Enigma machines are rare and highly prized by collectors. The machine that was sold at Sotheby’s on Wednesday is one of only a few hundred that are still in existence.
The sale of the Enigma machine for $547,500 is a record for any Enigma machine sold at auction. The previous record was set in 2017, when an Enigma machine sold for $269,000. The high price paid for the Enigma machine at Sotheby’s is a testament to the historical significance of the device and its enduring fascination for collectors.
**Additional information about the Enigma machine:**
* The Enigma machine was a rotor-based cipher machine. This means that it used a series of rotating wheels to encrypt and decrypt messages.
* The Enigma machine had three or four rotors, each of which had 26 letters on it. The rotors were arranged in a specific order, and they could be rotated independently of each other.
* When a key was pressed on the Enigma machine, the rotors would rotate and the electrical connections between the keys and the lamps would change. This would cause the letter that was pressed to be encrypted into a different letter.
* The Enigma machine was a very secure cipher machine, but it was not unbreakable. The Polish mathematicians who broke the Enigma code were able to do so by exploiting a number of weaknesses in the machine’s design.
* The Enigma machine was used by the German military throughout World War II. It was eventually replaced by more advanced cipher machines, but it remained in use by some German units until the end of the war..
