2007 Poland 2zl UNC Coin "Enigma Codes"

• Mint: Polish Mint
• Denomination: 2 Zloty
• Quality: Uncirculated
• Issue limit: 900,000 pcs.
• Alloy: Base Metal
• Diameter: 27 mm
• Weight: 8.15 grams
• Obverse artist: Ewa Tyc-Karpinska
• Reverse artist: Ewa Tyc-Karpinska
• Box/Capsule: No/Yes
• Certificate: No

Issued on March 21, 2007, this issue commemorates the 75th anniversary of the successful breaking of the German Enigma codes.

In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. More precisely, Enigma was a family of related electro-mechanical rotor machines - comprising a variety of different models. The Enigma was used commercially from the early 1920s on, and was also adopted by the military and governmental services of a number of nations - most famously by Nazi Germany before and during World War II.

The German military model, the Wehrmacht Enigma, gained notoriety because Allied cryptographers were able to decrypt a large number of messages that had been enciphered on the machine. Decryption was made in 1932 by Polish cryptographers Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski. In mid-1939 reconstruction and decryption methods were delivered to Britain and France. The intelligence gained through this source - codenamed ULTRA - was a significant aid to the Allied war effort. The exact influence of ULTRA is debated, but a typical assessment is that the end of the European war was hastened by two years because of the decryption of German ciphers.

The coin's reverse shows a stylized rotor wheel of the Enigma encryption machine. Two circular inscriptions, the outer one with each letter contained inside individual circles, say "REJEWSKI ROZYCKI ZYGALSKI" and "75. ROCZNICA ZLAMANIA SZYFRU ENIGMY" (75th anniversary of breaking Enigma codes). The obverse features the traditional 2 zloty design, with an image of the Eagle as the state emblem of the Republic of Poland, and the inscription "RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA" (Republic of Poland) in Polish. The edge inscription says "NBP" (National Bank of Poland) eight times, separated by stars, and with every second instance inverted by 180 degrees.