A fully operational and intact Enigma I cypher machine from 1944 is to be auctioned off at the Sotheby's auction house in New York City. British scientists, including Alan Turing, with the aid of previous work from Polish cryptographers, managed to crack the code and decipher Nazi Enigma messages during the course of World War Two. According to historians this work saved countless lives as well as hastening the end of the war by at least two years.
