Compete to crack secrets lost to history—for fun, clout, and (no) profit

• STATUSNEW_SOLUTION
• LIFECYCLECLOSED
• TYPENumber groups
• DATE1900–1902; one undated

Problems › 134

Fritz Salmen and Frl. Braun Postcards

Log

Problem

Thirty-four postcards cataloged in the Historical Cryptology Portal are addressed either to Fritz Salmen or to Frl. Braun. They are predominantly local Dortmund traffic from 1900–1902, with one undated item. Twenty-four address Salmen; ten address Braun.

Numbers, slashes, ordinary handwriting, and occasional letterforms run across the picture sides. Some fields follow an edge, circle an illustration, or continue into a separate margin. Fading, folds, printed captions, and watermarks make several joins difficult to see. A complete reading needs both an inventory of the marks and a defensible order for the physical components.

The table identifies every source object and preserves catalogue route wording such as Hier, meaning “here.” It does not assign either recurring hand a sender identity. The short specimen below consists of six individually recorded groups from HCP1001; it is not a continuous transcription of the card. The linked originals preserve the full fields.

What do these messages say, and where does the surviving source prevent a continuous reading?

Source transcription coverage

The source writing is available through the thirty-four original records. This page preserves six isolated groups from HCP1001, rather than a continuous transcript of that card. Complete typographic character ledgers for the other fields were not preserved in the available source records. Their originals are necessary for an independent attempt, including the main body and separate margins of HCP1004.

HCP1001, six separately recorded groups

10/14/12/12/5
2/9/19/19/5
12/5/9/13
11/9/5/2/5/17
6/17/9/19/25
13/9/3/8/19

Resources

• HCP1001 and source images, preserved online by the Historical Cryptology Portal
• Collection catalogue for the thirty-four original records listed above
• crackciphers corpus

Solutions

Still open: Twenty-eight non-control cards retain unresolved tokens, handwriting, line joins, or margin order

Submit a source or reading if you can resolve it.