We have a World War II
German Enigma coding machine. An Enigma. These are amazing. I've seen pictures of them. I've read about them. I've never actually
seen one in person. I mean, this thing was
responsible for the rise and the fall of the
entire German war machine. Where in the world
did you get this? My father and I have an Enigma
museum, and we treasure hunt. This thing won't make me
understand women, will it? That's an enigma. [laughs] During World War II,
if a German commander wanted to send a secret message
to his troops out in the field, this is what he used. And the Germans
thought this machine was completely unbreakable. I'm surprised any
of them survived. Not many did. There are three that I know of
in the United States on display right now. One is at a science
museum in Chicago. One is at the NSA's crypto
museum in Washington. And one is at the
International Spy Museum. At the end of the
war, they would destroy these in the field,
rather than let them fall into the hands of the enemy. So more often than not, they
are in horrendous condition. Now, this one
right here, I mean, you actually found it intact? No, this machine has parts
that have been replaced. OK, so these are extra rotors. That's a reproduction
box with two rotors. OK. This thing is so
incredibly cool. Cracking the Enigma code
was one of the top projects of World War II. It took years to do it. But in the end, it did
save millions of lives. I really want this thing, but
I've never had one in my shop. I need someone to look at it. I'm out of my league here. And how much do you want for it? $149,300. That's an odd number. I think it's a fair price. My big problem is, I've
seen them sell for $200,000. I've seen them sell for
$30,000, and you look at them, they all look the same. So I'm going to call in a friend
who knows a little bit more than I do about these things
and see if he can figure it out. - All right.
- Hey. What's up, man? Good to see you. What do you got? A mystery wrapped in a riddle. Yeah, it's an Enigma machine. It's pretty cool. Coolest thing
about these things is that they named
it the Enigma. Right, right. That is cool. If I had a dog, that's
what I'd name him. I do have a dog. He's an idiot. [laughs] My name is Wil Willis. I'm a former Army Ranger and
Air Force para rescue man, and I specialize
in military items. The hardest part of being
in the military for me was getting a
haircut every week. Nothing like having a baby
slick head for four years makes you think that the
hair is kind of nice. It's one of the coolest things
that's ever been in the shop. It really is. Yeah, it is. It is a really cool thing,
and it's really significant when you talk about
being able to encrypt your messages to your
generals and your soldiers. You know, having a machine
like this that allows you to send those
messages in secret is really a critical thing. And it was critical to
us, the Allied Forces, to be able to decipher
these messages. And when we decrypted
the machines, they shortened the
war by two years. Yeah. This is like uber nerd cool. It really is. Germany's foreign
policy was to conquer the world during World War II. So making them believe that
their messages were encrypted in secret was critical
towards winning that war in a shorter period of time. So which parts were
missing when you found it? The warning plate
and the rotors. OK. Do we have matching
serial numbers throughout? We do not. OK, so how many rotors
match the machine itself? None. OK. A serial number wasn't
what drove the process. The rotor number was. But the serial
number drives price. OK. All right. I know the price of these
things are all over the place. Right. The most expensive one
went for over $200,000. We've got three matched
rotors with serial numbers. They don't match
the machine itself. The box doesn't have
a serial number on it. We've got a recreated box. And considering what things
have been selling for that are unrestored with
matching serial numbers, I would price this at
$70,000 all together. Well, I think
my price is fair. Yeah, because he
was asking $149,300. Well, the most expensive
one that ever sold was for $200,000, and
that one was in a movie. I think the more fair price
is $70,000 for everything. Mm. Well, thanks, man. You got it. I think that sellers get
this perception that, like, I put in all this work. It's worth way more
than what it really is. I'm going to go
with Wil on this one. I'd give you 50 grand for it. [music playing] I can't do that. I mean, what is
your lowest number? 115,000. We're way too far off. We just are. Thanks for coming in. Thank you. All right. This really sucks because
the likelihood of another one coming in my shop is not good. But we were over 60 grand
apart, and that's way too much ground to even try and cover. But you know what? I really did want that thing.
