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The Top 50 unsolved encrypted messages: 32. The silk dress cryptogram

Von / 13. Mai 2017 / 6 Kommentare / Seite 2 von 2 / Auf einer Seite lesen
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Apparently, the silk dress cryptogram is based on a codebook that contained codewords like Cairo, Missouri, and Concordia (the one shown above contains meaningless expressions like egost, egotu, egouv and similar). To solve such a cryptogram it is usually necessary to have access to the codebook.

In 2014 I wrote a blog article (in German) about the silk dress cryptogram. I received many interesting comments, but no solution.

2011-10-03-NCM-Bellovin

For instance, Steve Bellovin, a renowned codebook expert, wrote (a code is in this case the same as a codebook):

My first assumption is that it’s an ordinary commercial code. The style is certainly consistent with 1880s telegraph codes. On the first one, I even see a repeated three-word sequence: ‘new johnson none’. You may want to point folks at https://books.google.com/books?id=-7NLAAAAYAAJ as an example of what a commercial code of that era looks like. The trick will likely be figuring out which book it was; there were many. (Also, the marginal numbers are definitely word counts for that line; telegraph companies charged by the word.) Finally, people often interpolated plaintext words with codebooks, especially folks who weren’t accustomed to codebooks and for words not listed. If one of the telegrams is about the dress, the repeated word “lining” might make sense that way.

Here is my summary of all the comments that went in:

  • The message is probably a telegram (or it even consists of several telegrams).
  • The words of the message were probably taken from an 1880’s codebook. Here is an example: https://www.jmcvey.net/cable/miller_1882_p54_detail_700w339h.jpg
  • The numbers between the lines are word counts (telegraph companies charged by the word).
  • The marginals (e.g. “11:30 PM”) probably indicate the time when the respective telegram was sent or received. If this is the case the message might consist of three telegrams.

Can a reader find out more? Can the codebook that was used be identified? If so, please let me know.


Further reading: How FBI codebreakers found out what “K1, P2, CO8, K5, P2” means

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Kommentare (6)

  1. #1 Rich SantaColoma
    https://proto57.wordpress.com/
    13. Mai 2017

    I would like to add another suggestion to the list:

    It seems possible that the note being so “hidden” in the lining may have been inadvertent, not purposeful. When sewing (I’ve sewn many shirts, dresses, capes, suits, myself), one needs to always be mindful not to pick up extraneous items… bits of pattern, lose notions, fabric scraps. I mean, the note may have innocently ended up being sewn into the dress, not secreted.

    And then the content: With words like “lining”, “knit”, and “ducK”, being somewhat relate to tailoring, perhaps this list is simply a reminder of sewing tasks… apparel names, with quantities, fabric types, colors, and so forth… then, also, checked off… showing completion of the tasks…. like “I have to remember to put new linings in the Cairo Rural dresses”.

    So a code of sorts, yes… put perhaps a personal, “of the cuff” set of shorthand notes for a seamstress?

  2. #2 Kyrmse
    São Paulo, Brasil
    13. Mai 2017

    Could the words be the result of an N+7 type code? In this case you would take the 7th word after the given cleartext word in a given dictionary or wordlist.
    Of course the added number might be different according to the word’s class: +7 for nouns, -4 for adjectives etc….
    That might explain the repetition of “loamy”, “duck” “lunar” and so on.

  3. #3 Karsten Hansky
    14. Mai 2017

    I received a message from John McVey. John most probably identified the codebook which was used for these messages (“I suspect the code words are from Slater. Do not know how it was used in that instance, however.”). We have to check and confirm whether his idea is correct.

    The crux of the matter is that Slater code results not in the original text but in a series of numbers. In many cases the code was used in a way that the numbers refer to the entries in another codebook. Sometimes the numbers indicate entries in the Slater code itself but you have to know the offset which has been added.

    So it seems to be a step towards the solution but not the solution itself…

    Klaus will publish the results in a few days.

  4. #4 Thomas
    15. Mai 2017

    Unless the process of transforming the plaintext numbers into code text numbers (addition, subtraction, transposing…) is known, the codewords cannot be decoded with Slater’s tables. There are countless ways of transforming the numbers which yield meaningless codetext, see the “The Queen is the supreme power in the Realm” examples starting on p. vii, https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=MJYBAAAAQAAJ).

  5. #5 Thomas
    15. Mai 2017

    Moreover the striking large number of words beginning with ‘l’ may argue against a codebook (with a normal distribution of first letters).

  6. #6 Richard SantaColoma
    https://proto57.wordpress.com/
    22. Dezember 2023

    It was solved! It turns out it is a series of weather reports, written in a code used for the purpose. The solver even figured out the exact DAY it was written!