In 1907 an encrypted postcard was sent from Box, UK, to nearby Chippenham. Can a reader decipher this note?

When I cover an encrypted postcard on Klausis Krypto Kolumne, I often need to take a geography lesson. This time, a postcard I found on a website has taken me to Chippenham, a town in Wiltshire, England, 21 kilometers east of Bath and 154 kilometers west of London. The world-famous Stonehenge monument is located 50 kilometers to the South of this place.

In 1907 an unknown person (probably male) sent an encrypted postcard to an unmarried woman in Chippenham. This postcard shows the Blindhouse, a building located in Box, a village west of Chippenham. The journey the card took from there was only about 10 kilometers long. The website the postcard stems from is titled Box People and Places. Only after I had realized that Box is the name of a village, I understood what this site is about.

Postcard-Chippenham-pic

Here’s the text side of the postcard:

Postcard-Chippenham-tex

While the encrypted text is well readable, the name of the recipient is hard to identifiy. Maybe a reader can see more than I do.

The ciphertext is probably a message from the recepient’s lover (most encrypted postcards are of this kind). The text is quite short, which makes it more difficult to decipher. On the other hand, the spaces between the words are visible, which makes word guessing possible.

Can a reader break this encrypted postcard?


Further reading: The NSA crypto museum asks for support: Who can solve these encrypted postcards?

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Kommentare (8)

  1. #1 Thomas
    28. März 2017

    CHEER UP LOBBE ALL WELL SATURDAY SOON

  2. #2 Marc
    28. März 2017

    CHEER UP LO(V)E ALL WELL SATURDAY SOON !
    🙂

  3. #3 Rich SantaColoma
    https://proto57.wordpress.com/
    28. März 2017

    Oh wow Thomas… congrats! And once again you beat me to it! Next time, maybe….

  4. #4 Klaus Schmeh
    28. März 2017

    @Thomas, Marc:
    You posted the solution after only 12 minutes. This is a new record for this blog! Great job!

  5. #5 Andreas
    29. März 2017

    The last word could be his name AIMON (1•9•13•15•14).

  6. #6 Pate
    29. März 2017

    Wow das nennt sich schon kryptgraphie? Ca 1 sekunde gebraucht um zu verstehen u 2 min um den text aufzuschreiben bitte anspruchsvolleres 😉

  7. #7 Smørrebrød
    29. März 2017

    Maybe it was so easy because there is no encryption involved at all.

  8. #8 Klaus Schmeh
    29. März 2017

    Bart Wenmeckers via Facebook:
    Thanks for posting that is an easy one 🙂