The meet was held from June 23-26, 2016 in the huge "Messe" (Convention Center)
adjacent to the airport in Friedrichshafen which is on the bank of the lovely
Bodensee (Lake Constance).
This year we reserved 8 tables in the flea market for the display and sale of
crypto-related apparatus, spy radios and other items. A huge "ENIGMA" banner
flew over the tables so you could see them from across the large hall. There
were two huge halls with about 1000 tables displaying equipment for sale so
the big "ENIGMA" sign helped people locate our tables. A wide variety of
exotic crypto gear, spy radios and other interesting items were on display and
on offer. During the four days of the conference a great deal of Crypto gear
and many spy radios and other items changed hands and both sellers and buyers
came away very happy.
The buyers were almost all members of the Cryptocollectors Email reflector on
Yahoo-Groups so they all knew exactly what they were buying and the
appropriate values. Many of the sellers were also on the reflector but some
spectacular items were also brought to the show by other sellers such as
crypto-expert Professor Dr. Franz Pichler of the University of Linz, Austria
who brought some very fine relatively modern crypto-gear.
In addition to the buying, selling and networking in the flea market, the
Fourth Annual Enigma Forum was held on Friday afternoon at 1600. It was very
well attended with a crowd of over 200 people who watched the lectures and the
demonstrations.
I hope that this report will encourage you to consider attending next year. I
do not believe that there has ever been such a broad selection of fine and
unusual crypto- gear for sale in one place along with such a gathering of
crypto- experts and historians. In my opinion, this conference is a lot more
fun than Ebay, the food is better, and you can bargain face-to-face with the
sellers. Don't even think of coming without a shopping bag full of Euros or
you will be kicking yourself about the things you wanted but could not buy
because the sellers only accept Euros.
Below you will find some photographs of the items that were offered for sale
as well as pictures of the sellers and buyers and the Forum.
In the foreground is their amazing and deceptively childish-looking
E-118 Cryptographic Barbie Electronic Typewriter.
The techniques for activating the encoding and decoding abilites, the
Mono Alphabetic Substitution Cipher (MASC) technology and the Substitution
Tables are explained in:
You may want to visit:
From Left-to-Right they are:
Thomas B. Perera Ph. D.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: (Copyright (c) 2016: Prof. Tom Perera Ph. D.)
This is one of our rows of 4 tables of crypto-related goodies.
This is our other row of 4 tables of crypto-related goodies.
This a photo of one of the two halls enclosing the flea market. There were
approximately 500 3-meter-long tables in each hall.
There was always a crowd in front of our tables.
Klaus Kopacz was kept busy explaining and demonstrating all of the features
of his exact Enigma Replica.
To the left of his replica you can see his NEMA.
To the right of his replica you can see his exact replica Enigma battery, his
hand-held cipher machines and a number of battlefield-dug Enigma rotors and
parts.
Marc Simons (right) and Paul Reuvers (at far end of table) showed and
demonstrated their popular Enigma-E kits, their FIALKA book and some
fine spy radios.
Although it appears to be just a children's toy, it contains a number of
sophistocated enciphering and deciphering abilities.
You may read about it on Paul and Marc's webpage:
http://CryptoMuseum.com/crypto/mehano/barbie/index.htm
http://CryptoMuseum.com/crypto/mehano/barbie/index.htm#coding
At the end of Paul and Marc's tables, three vintage teletype machines
ran continuously. They were very popular with the crowds.
Here is another view of two of the teletype machines in action.
John Alexander displayed an absolutely mint in-the-original-box M-209.
We all watched as he broke the seals and opened the box for the first time.
He also displayed a red telephone and a set of exceptionally rare
rotors for the Abwehr Enigma "G".
Klaus Kopacz (right) shows off his immaculate cipher machine to John
Alexander. The machine is mounted in a lockable metal case that is
clearly marked for the German Embassy in Moscow.
Dug up relic Enigma parts are on the left and his NEMA is on the right.
Tom Perera (left) and Dan Perera (right) in front of their display.
From left-to-right, an R-014 Russian Burst Encoder, a working 3-rotor Enigma,
a FIALKA and two FIALKA power supplies.
Ray Robinson, a Cryptocollector from Australia shows off one of his finds.
David Cripps, another Cryptocollector, finally made it to Friedrichshafen
this year. Here he shows off a FIALKA rotor with 60 possible wiring
configurations that he bought at the show.
Mark Simons (left) and Paul Reuvers show off (most of) a very rare and
unusual spy radio that they found on a table at the meet. This set is so
rare that it was an exciting find even though it was not in good condition.
This man came over to our tables with a big smile and an Enigma for sale.
As you can see, it was in very poor condition and he wanted a very high price
for it so he ended up taking it back home with him.
Here is a view of the inside of the Enigma. All parts were so heavily
corroded so that nothing would move.
Another man stopped by our tables to offer us a very rare Enigma UHR box.
The UHR box is a switch that replaces all of the steckers in an Enigma and
allows the operator to set certain stecker plug settings by turning a switch
knob rather than inserting stecker plugs into the steckerboard.
We looked at it very carefully and saw that top of the case was in very poor
condition.
Then someone noticed that the stecker plugs were longer than the ones used in
3-rotor Enigmas.
The stecker plug on the left is one of the steckers that are attached to the
UHR box and the stecker on the right is a typical 3-rotor Enigma stecker.
The long steckers were only used with German Marine Enigmas so this UHR box
was apparently made to work with German Navy Enigmas. However, UHR boxes were
only known to have been used with the three-rotor Enigmas used by the German
Air Force and there is absolutely no previous evidence that UHR boxes were
ever used by the German Navy.
Since this UHR box came from Norway it might have been used with the 4-rotor M4
Enigmas that were in service with the German Navy in Norway.
The discovery of this unique UHR box leaves us with another puzzle that will
need to be researched further in the future.
One of the most surprising discoveries was a box of the special oil cans used
in maintaining FIALKA cipher machines. Previously, the only known example of
this very rare FIALKA accessory was the oil can shown on Paul Reuvers' and
Marc Simons' website; http://cryptomuseum.com.
I bought every one of them and the owner promised to bring more to
Friedrichshafen next year. I intend to offer them to FIALKA owners next year
when I am able to buy more of them.
These oil cans came from a FIALKA depot and the owner bought them in a large
batch. He then pasted his own label on them and gave them to customers to
advertise his automobile repair service. Since he is no longer in that
business, he agreed to sell the remaining cans to me. His labels can easily
be peeled off.
This is another example of the very unusual and unpredictable items that show
up at this meet.
Here is a former Enigma operator who saw our sign which asks anyone who worked
with Enigmas to tell us their story.
Klaus Schmeh interviewed him and will write up his story.
Over the years we have been able to find and interview quite a number of
former Enigma operators and repairmen.
SOME ITEMS OF INTEREST FOR SALE:
Here are two suitcase-mounted clandestine radio sets.
The one on the left is a rare pre-WW-2 clandestine transceiver with an asking
price of 2,500 EU. This translated into about 2,800 US Dollars.
The one on the right is a body-worn cold-war era clandestine Russian direction
finding receiver complete with all accessories including the safty-pin mounted
antenna which was designed to be pinned inside the arms of an overcoat. The
asking price was 1,500 EU or about 1,700 US Dollars.
Here are several clandestine receivers for sale.
Here is a box of Cold-War era FIALKA Era telegraph keys on offer for 10EU
each.
Here is a nice little MITE portable teletype set for sale.
Many tables like this one were stacked high with original German WW-II radio
equipment. Most of the prices were quite reasonable.
Most of the versions of the Volksemphanger propaganda radios were on sale as
well as several R-2 propaganda sets as used in U-Boats like the one on the
far left of this picture.
Again, most of the prices were quite reasonable.
Many old and interesting telegraph keys were for sale on various tables at
very reasonable prices.
This rare old military portable telegraph set was for sale for 800 Euros.
Many very early radios were being sold on various tables.
Early scientific instruments were tucked in among the radio sets.
On a somewhat different note, here is a complete violin-making kit for sale.
You never know what may turn up at this meet.
The FOURTH ANNUAL ENIGMA FORUM:
Here are the presentations made at the Fourth Annual Enigma Forum.
Tom Perera started the forum by presenting a close look at the electrical
circuits and wiring of an Enigma followed by some very recent
findings in Enigma history.
Mark Simons (right) and Paul Reuvers gave an exceptional in-depth analysis of
the history and technology of the British Typex machine and, for the first
time, revealed the direct interoperability of the British Typex, the German
Enigma, and the American Sigaba.
Klaus Schmeh presented in graphic detail the story of 7 crimes that
involved enciphered messages.
The forum ended with Klaus Kopacz (in the yellow shirt) demonstrating
his exact Enigma replica and his replica Enigma battery to a very
large, appreciative and enthusiastic audience.
http://EnigmaMuseum.com/replica for more pictures and details of his
replica.
The Third Annual ENIGMA-RELOADED Special Event was announced.
For more information visit: http://enigma-reloaded.it
This is a photograph of the 2009 Bletchley Park Reunion with arrows pointing
to some of the Friedrichshafen conference speakers.
Marc Simons (hidden behind another person)
Paul Reuvers
John Alexander
Tom Perera
and Klaus Kopacz
END of FRIEDRICHSHAFEN 2016 REPORT
CONTACT INFORMATION
Professor Emeritus: Montclair State University
Internet On-Line ENIGMA Museum:
http://EnigmaMuseum.com
I ask you to type my email address as
follows with no spaces between words:)
or
http://w1tp.com/enigma
Internet On-Line Telegraph & Scientific Instrument Cyber-Museum:
http://w1tp.com
Although all the pictures and text are copyrighted, you may use any of them
for your own personal applications including public lectures and
demonstrations, publications and websites as long as you mention the
www.EnigmaMuseum.com. If you plan to offer them for sale to the public
in any form, you must email me for permission which I will generally grant as
long as you mention http://EnigmaMuseum.com. My email address is
given above.
Some of the material may require contacting other copyright owners for
commercial use and I will inform you by email if this is the case.
Please also see the disclaimer of warranty.