C0003

Illustration of an Enigma Handelsmaschine
Title
Illustration of an Enigma Handelsmaschine
Production date
1923
Additional Title information
An illustration of an Enigma Handelsmaschine, captioned “Chiffriermaschine Enigma”, published in a German technical book.
MATERIAL(s)
Paper
Type
Document
DIMENSIONS
230 x 160 mm
Serial number(s)
Contributer(S)
Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft (publisher). Fritz Hansen (author).
COLLECTION NUMBER
C0003
CONDITION
Fine.
Category / Subcategory (if applicable)
Location
Main collection (Warwickshire, UK).
STATUS
In storage
provenance
Purchased from a German dealer.
Acquisition Date
Dec 2018
Associated object(S)
Record Last Updated
Sep 24, 2023
DESCRIPTION
An illustration of an Enigma Handelsmaschine in an article titled ‘Die Chiffriermaschine: Ein neues hilfsmittel der Nachrichtenübermittlung’ (The cipher machine: A new tool for transmitting messages). The Handelsmaschine, described in the caption of the illustration simply as “Chiffriermaschine Enigma”, was developed in 1923 and was the first cipher machine sold under the 'Enigma' name. There are no known surviving examples of this machine and these illustrations are among the only images of it.
Notes
Paul Reuvers and Marc Simons of Crypto Museum provide the following note about the name of this model: “Over the years, the general understanding of the model names and designators of the various Enigma machines, has changed several times. For a long time, it was assumed that the machine described on this page — i.e. Die Handelsmaschine — was known as the Enigma A, but from archived documents it has meanwhile become clear that Enigma A was the first lamp-based Enigma machine (Glühlampenmaschine). It seems likely that the first two printing Enigma machines did not have a single-letter model name”.
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Chiffriermaschine. Object title goes here (Object C0001). Chiffriermaschine Collection Online. Last updated: <insert date here>. https://www.chiffriermaschine.com/explore/object-link-goes-here.