Legendary German "Enigma 1" Cyphering Machine, 1944

Chiffriermaschinenfabrik Heimsoeth & Rinke, Berlin. Serial no. "A 20451 / jla / 1944". With 3 original wheels, marked: (I) A 20451, (II) A 20451 and (III) A 20451, each with one notch, reflector wheel marked A 20451, all wheels with embossed eagle and Swastika, standard QWERTZ keyboard of 26 keys, white symbols on black backgrounds, battery switch, plugboard, battery casing, metal case with brown finish. – Lamp board, bulbs and wheel cover are missing, wiring partially cut or missing. – Note: An important example of the legendary World War II ciphering machine developed by Berlin engineer Dr. Arthur Scherbius and first manufactured commercially by the Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft Berlin in 1923. So complex was the Enigma, it was considered capable of producing over 22 billion code combinations without a single repetition. According to an early prospectus, "if one man worked continuously day and night and tried a different cipher-key every minute, it would take him 42,000 years to exhaust all combination possibilities." – Restoring this original machine is well worth the effort. One of the truly great technical and historical collection and exhibition pieces!

布雷克拍品等级是为了方便竞买人判断拍卖品的成色而设置的。布雷克等级用1到6级来标注外观和功能的成色，(从非常好到非常差)。 在目录图册里用括号里的2个数字来表示，前一个数字表示外观成色的级别，后一个数字表示功能成色的级别。如(3/2)表示外观成色是3(满意的)，功能成色2(好)。 成色 定义参照下列标准： 1 - 非常好 (未使用过，没有使用痕迹) 2 - 好 (新，极少的使用痕迹) 3 - 满意的 (普通的使用痕迹) 4 - 及格的 (明显的使用痕迹，某个非主要部件是后配的) 5 - 有缺陷的 (极明显的使用痕迹, 某个主要部件是后配的，功能上有缺陷，需要修理) 6 - 非常差 (严重破损, 缺少重要部件)