Lot 1249
A Swiss Crypto machine CX-52 resp. CX/RT
International Orders & Military Collectibles | A83m | Live auction | 577 Lots
Hammer price € 4,500
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Mechanical rotor machine, manufactured from 1952 onwards by Crypto AG in Zug, Switzerland. The first model was the CX-52 with six pinwheels, followed by the CR/RT with a tape reader. The machine works with a random tape (RT) whose ciphertext letters are mixed with the plaintext letters entered at the pointer wheel. For decoding, the recipient needs the same random tape. The random tapes were delivered by couriers, usually every three months. During the time of the Cold War these machines were used in approx. 60 countries by the army and government agencies, among them all German embassies. In contrast to the manipulated cipher machines made by Crypto AG (CIA and the German Federal Intelligence Service, BND, had acquired the manufacturer in the 1970s via Siemens as a straw man and were able to decipher almost all encoded messages – known as the Rubicon affair), machines of this type were unbreakable.The device is fully functional, complete with an original random tape, a test tape for a functional check and copies of the operation manual. Dimensions 21 x 14 x 10 cm.Condition: II + Questions about the lot?
