The teleprinter for the Lorenz cipher machine, which Hitler used to message his top generals
A historic machine used to swap top secret messages between Hitler and his generals has been found languishing in a shed in Essex.
Volunteers from The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park used eBay to track down the keyboard of the Lorenz machine.
It was advertised as a telegram machine and was for sale for £9.50.
The museum, in Buckinghamshire, is now asking people to search for the motor, another key piece of the equipment.
"My colleague was scanning eBay and he saw a photograph of what seemed to be the teleprinter," said John Wetter, a volunteer at the museum.
He then went to Southend to investigate further where he found the keyboard being kept, in its original case, on the floor of a shed "with rubbish all over it".
"We said 'Thank you very much, how much was it again?' She said '£9.50', so we said 'Here's a £10 note - keep the change!'"
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Secret German WW2 code machine found on eBay - BBC News