Kryha Liliput Cipher Machine

A RARE KRYHA LILIPUT CIPHER MACHINE - THE GENTLEMAN’S CIPHER MACHINE.

Invented by German-Ukrainian businessman Alexander von Kryha, the Kryha machines relied on cipher discs and a spring motor. These machines were used for commercial and diplomatic communications from 1925 into the the Cold War-era..    

His first cipher machine to hit the market, the Kryha Standard, was invented after the first World War and may have been inspired by a story about an early model of the Enigma machine invented by Arthur Scherbius in the press. Scherbius had pitched the use of the early Enigma to the German Postal Service, though that collaboration fell through in the 1920s, and Kryha may have encountered the news coverage of Scherbius’ attempt in the local paper (Schmeh, 2020). 

The size of a pocket watch, the Liliput emerged in 1925 and used the same algorithm as the Kryha Standard before it. This meant that a Liliput could be used in communications with the Standard. 

In 1933, the United States Army tasked famous cryptographer William Friedman to test the security of the cipher before they invested in the devices. Assisted by his colleagues, junior cryptanalysts Solomon Kullback, Frank Rowlett and Abraham Sinkov, they deciphered a test message encrypted by the Kryha Standard that was 1135 characters long. The endeavor only took 2 hours and 41 minutes, not including a lunch break of 40 minutes in the afternoon it took place. 

The original Standard machines, like the later Liliput model featured here, were issued with velvet-lined leather cases. Marketed to the corporate world, Kryha machines notably draw from Art Deco and Modernist design characteristics, further distinguishing them from their contemporaries more known for military use. The present lot, an elegant example of the Liliput model, is built to look and fit in your hand like a pocket watch.

Kryha also commissioned popular artists in Berlin in the ‘20s to produce marketing materials for his machines. Some advertisements in the ‘20s suggest that Kryha machines were used to encrypt radio traffic on zeppelin airships, but research conducted by historian and author Klaus Schmeh indicates that this was likely not the case and merely a marketing tactic (Schmeh and Taaks, 2020). 

Unlike its contemporary, more infamous cipher machines like the Enigma, the Kryha Liliput never went into mass production. Historian David Khan notes in The Codebreakers that von Kryha’s ultimate lack of commercial success may have had to do more with timing rather than the strength of his cryptography, as his peers’ products also did not see substantial commercial success until closer to World War II. After the war, Kryha moved to Hamburg in 1951 to try to revitalize his cipher business. This dates the production of this lot to the 1950s, as he moved his business to Hamburg-Altona in 1952. The company logo on the device also dates the machine post-World-War II. 

Unfortunately for Kryha, the revitalization of his business did not take off and the company did not survive the decade. Less than 20 Kryha Liliput devices are known to exist in private hands today.  

REFERENCES

Callimahos, L.D. "Q.E.D- 2 Hours, 41 Minutes." NSA Technical Journal Vol XVIII No 4 Fall 1973. 

Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. [New York] Scribner, [1996]. 

Marks, Philip. “Operational Use and Cryptanalysis of the Kryha Cipher Machine,” Cryptologia, 

35:2, pp. 114-155. 2011. 

Schmeh, Klaus and Claus Taaks. “Alexander von Kryha, a Maniac and his Machine.”  

International Conference on Cryptologic History (ICCH). June 13, 2020.