Displaying results 1 to 15 - 15
Date Created: circa 1970
Description: Codename: Ajax refers to the hidden camera concealed in this ordinary looking coat. The lens, tucked behind the right middle button, is perfectly positioned for photographing unsuspecting people.
To take a picture, the wearer of the coat squeezes a shutter release cable hidden in the coat...
Date Created: circa 1942-1945
Description: The device, shaped to resemble a piece of coal, was hollowed out to conceal explosives. Using the camouflage kit, the device was painted to resemble the color and look of local coal. When the device was eventually shoveled into the fire box or boiler of a steam engine-powered locomotive, the heat...
Date Created: 1970s
Description: During the Cold War, East Berlin's Humboldt University offered special courses to train "criminalists" or spy catchers in techniques to detect and root out foreign spies and traitors. Graduates were issued kits that contained all the tools they needed to carry out their...
Date Created: circa 1940’s
Description:
Originally designed to encode business communications, the Germans adapted the Enigma cipher machine for use in World War II. The machine linked a keyboard to a series of rotors using electric current. The rotors transposed each keystroke multiple times. The message was then sent in Morse code...
Description: In the years between the world wars, adventurous tales of FBI government agents—G-Men—and their fight against evil-doers played out daily in newspapers. G-Men became the popular heroes of the era. Kids all across the country dreamed of becoming agents, and the toys and games of the time played to...
Date Created: February 4, 1777
Description: The Father of His Country and America’s First Spymaster
To fight and win their independence, the fledgling United States needed shrewd military leadership, dedicated troops…and timely intelligence. The Continental Congress had established a commission to search out and apprehend British...
Date Created: 1950s -1990s
Description: Hollow coins easily concealed microfilm and microdots. They were opened by inserting a needle into a tiny hole in the front of the coin.
Date Created: circa 1965
Description: The lipstick pistol, discovered on a female KGB operative during the Cold War, is a 4.5 mm, single shot weapon. It delivered the ultimate “kiss of death.”
Date Created: 1960s
Description: A microdot is a photograph so small, an entire document can be reduced to the size of a punctuation mark in a newspaper. Originally developed as a parlor trick, microdots became valuable tools of the spy craft trade.
These tiny images could be attached to an envelope or postcard, or hidden...
Date Created: circa 1937 – 1944
Description: For 50 years, the Minox was the essential spy camera. It could take 50 pictures without reloading, and its high resolution lens captured a remarkable amount of detail. John Walker, a U.S. Navy warrant officer who ran a KGB spy ring in the 1970s, used a Minox camera to photograph highly classified...
Date Created: circa 1943-1944
Description: This counterfeit English note was printed as part of “Operation Bernhard,” a German plot to disrupt the British economy by distributing more than ₤100 million in counterfeit money.
Description: In the years before World War I, Germany experimented with the use of pigeons carrying cameras to photograph enemy activity. Pigeons outfitted with tiny cameras would be released near military target areas. As the birds flew over those areas “on their way home”, the cameras which were outfitted...
Date Created: 1960s
Description: Filled with escape tools, this kit could be stashed inside the body where for concealment during a search.
Date Created: 1960s–1970s
Description: Secretly obtaining an American diplomat’s shoes, the Romanians outfitted them with a hidden microphone and transmitter, thus enabling them to monitor the conversations of the unsuspecting target.
Date Created: circa 1949
Description: At first glance it’s a stylish wristwatch. But look again—it’s really a miniature camera. An agent would carefully aim the camera while pretending to check the time —no easy feat since there was no viewfinder. Pressing a button on the watch snapped the photo.
The Steineck, a product of post-war...
Displaying results 1 to 15 - 15