Well, this is interesting:
The auction, which will include other items related to cryptology, will be held Nov. 20. RR Auction, the company arranging the sale, estimates a winning bid between $300,000 and $500,000.
Along with the original handwritten plain text of K4 and other papers related to the coding, Mr. Sanborn will also be providing a 12-by-18-inch copper plate that has three lines of alphabetic characters cut through with a jigsaw, which he calls “my proof-of-concept piece” and which he kept on a table for inspiration during the two years he and helpers hand-cut the letters for the project. The process was grueling, exacting and nerve wracking. “You could not make any mistake with 1,800 letters,” he said. “It could not be repaired.”
Mr. Sanborn’s ideal winning bidder is someone who will hold on to that secret. He also hopes that person is willing to take over the system of verifying possible solutions and reviewing those unending emails, possibly through an automated system.
Here’s the auction listing.
Tags: CIA, encryption, history of cryptography