AB TRANSVERTEX; SWEDEN, CIRCA 1950

Details

AN HC-9 CIPHER MACHINE
AB TRANSVERTEX; SWEDEN, CIRCA 1950
serial number plaque M 3858-301010 KRYAPP 301 TRAEX HC 9 24750, the five rotor machine in green rubber carrying case.
7 x 8 x 3½ in. (17 x 21 x 9cm.) in case

Literature

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/transvertex/hc9/

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

Designed for relatively low level military use by the Swedish forces, the HC-9 was also well used in South American It embodied some new ideas in mechanical cryptography with alleged high resistance to cryptanalysis. The rear of the machine features a series of pins, combinations of which would be depressed by a punch key-card and the front window would have shown a randomised alphabet pairing on a rotating alphabet sheet of 16 lines. These the alphabet sheets and key cards were destroyed by the Swedish government when the HC-9s were declassified.

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