Re: VMs: Is VMS unique - Was: Folio and Quire numbers

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- PK#01 <pklist01@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> IMHO VMS is unique. I've been making a loose and
> informal inventory of old crypto methods and I've 
> found examples from France, England, Italy,
> Germany, Bohemia, and the Dutch Republic. All
> these methods are pretty standard and would
> have been cracked by now.

Well, the VMs is the only known MS written in
this script so it is unique. Probably at least
the writer(s) would have used the script also
in other writings, even if only to practice, but
these have not come down to us.
The crypto methods discussed on this list
were used for diplomatic exchanges. 

> My personal guess is that the VMS is a one-off
> artifact like the (take cover!) Phaistos disk
> and by it's very nature unsolvable. 

It's an interesting comparison. I have always 
assumed that the Phaistos disk just happens
to be the only one left over, but that there
were more of them. The size of its text is so
small that chances of translation are much 
smaller than that of the VMs (at least a priori).
There are also some other objects with the same
script, so a hoax is essentially excluded.

Cheers, Rene

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