Secret Message from CIA Sculpture Fetches Nearly $1 Million

The final piece of information required to decode the elusive secret message in the Kryptos sculpture at the CIA headquarters in Virginia has been sold at auction for $963,000. The auction, conducted by RR Auction of Boston, concluded on Friday, revealing that an anonymous bidder secured the archive previously owned by the sculpture’s creator, Jim Sanborn.

This archive contains crucial documents and coding charts essential for deciphering the last remaining unsolved message, known as K-4. The sculpture, dedicated in 1990, stands at 10 feet tall and features a design reminiscent of a sheet of paper emerging from a fax machine. It has captivated cryptography enthusiasts for decades, with three of its four messages—labeled K1, K2, and K3—successfully decoded.

The winning bidder will have the unique opportunity to meet with Sanborn, who is now 80 years old, to discuss the codes and his artistic intent behind the sculpture. This interaction aims to foster a continued relationship with those interested in cryptanalysis, as Sanborn has frequently engaged with individuals seeking to solve K-4. Over the past two decades, one individual has contacted him regularly, prompting Sanborn to establish a fee of $50 for each submission related to the decoding efforts.

Sanborn’s decision to auction off the solution to K-4 was influenced by his desire to place the information in the hands of someone who would safeguard its secrets and maintain the dialogue with the cryptography community. The auction house has indicated that a “long-term stewardship plan” is being developed for the information.

The archive sale almost faced a setback in September 2023 when two enthusiasts claimed to have uncovered Sanborn’s original scrambled texts within his archives at the Smithsonian. Despite this development, Sanborn clarified, “The important distinction is that they discovered it. They did not decipher it. They do not have the key. They don’t have the method with which it’s deciphered.”

Sanborn’s body of work extends beyond Kryptos, including approximately 50 public sculptures. Notably, he created a memorial dedicated to the victims of a mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, in 2019. The sale of the Kryptos archive not only sheds light on this intriguing piece of art and cryptography but also highlights the enduring fascination with codes and the pursuit of hidden messages.