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A rare Hagelin B-21 electromechanical cipher machine, Swedish, after 1932, image 1
A rare Hagelin B-21 electromechanical cipher machine, Swedish, after 1932, image 2
A rare Hagelin B-21 electromechanical cipher machine, Swedish, after 1932, image 3
Lot 48

A rare Hagelin B-21 electromechanical cipher machine,
Swedish, after 1932,

Instruments of Science, Technology and Mechanical Music
27 October 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

£40,000 - £60,000

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A rare Hagelin B-21 electromechanical cipher machine, Swedish, after 1932,

makers plaque lettered and stamped A.B. INGENIORSFIRMAN TEKNIK STOCKHOLM SWEDEN TYPE B21 NO. 414, complete with keyboard, lamp panel, for brass coding wheel, in black crackle finish casing within oak carrying metal case with spare bulbs and screw driver, the machine. 11 x 11 x 5in (28 x 28 x 13cm)

Footnotes

The B-21 was the first cipher machine designed by Boris Hagelin while working for Arvid Damm's company A B Cryptograph in Stockholm in the mid 1920's. The company's investors, the Nobel family, initially placed Hagelin as a financial controller but by 1925 he was the acting director.

The Swedish Army took interest in the German made Enigma machines in 1925 and Hagelin proposed his own design, the B-21 which was based on the earlier B-18 that used two coding wheels but with the improvement of adding two pin-wheels to control the stepping of each of the coding wheel.

For a full technical description and history of the B-21, see www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/hagelin/b21/index.htm

Additional information

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Original Superman 'Flying Costume' from the 1978 film 'Superman: The Movie', worn by American actor Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) in the flying scenes of the motion picture. Consisting of red wool cape with sewn-on logo, blue nylon top with sewn-on logo, blue nylon pants, yellow plastic belt and red leather boots. Also included is documentation regarding ownership history, unopened copy of the film (DVD), CD-ROM with catalogue material from Christie's, New York, July 2001, where the costume was last sold, and a color photograph of Christopher Reeve in one of the film's flying scenes. Zip waistband with the costume workshop's handwritten name, 'Nathans-Bermans CR [Christopher Reeve] Fly' ('Bermans & Nathans Ltd', London). The inside of the boots are labelled in pen, 'CR R 4' and 'CR L 4' for Christopher Reeve respectively. Both boot shafts also have remnants of sewn-on fabric labels on the inside. (14 items in total).

DKK800,000 - DKK1,000,000