From: John Young <jy@jya.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 09:29:41 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Chinese Gold Bar Mystery
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19961023162835.00691738@pop.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


http://www.iacr.org/~iacr/china/china.html


Cryptograms on Gold bars from China


The following mystery was brought to IACR by the 
curator of a museum in the US. I don't have the 
complete story, but it seems that seven gold bars
were allegedly issued to a General Wang in Shanghai, 
China, in 1933. These gold bars appear to represent 
metal certificates related to a bank deposit with
a U.S. Bank. The gold bars themselves have pictures, 
Chinese writing, some form of script writing, and 
cryptograms in latin letters. 

Not surprisingly, there is a dispute concerning the 
validity of the claim for the deposit. It may
help to resolve the dispute if someone can decipher 
the cryptograms on the bars. Nobody has yet
put for the a theory as to their meaning. I am also 
unable to recognize the script writing. The
Chinese writing has been translated, and discusses a 
transaction in excess of $300,000,000. It also refers 
to these gold bars which weigh a total of 1.8 kilograms. 

To assist in your investigation, I have compiled the 
cryptograms and their arrangements. Below are images 
of the bars, available in two sizes. The ones shown 
here are about 20K each, and clicking on any of them 
will download a larger version (about 200K). The gold 
bars were photographed against a blue or green 
background that appears around some edges. 

Unfortunately, neither I nor IACR can provide any 
further information regarding this. If you are
seriously interested in trying to solve the mystery, 
I advise you to contact one of the following
individuals: 

     Bin J. Tao 
     15475 Rochlen St. 
     Hacienda Heights, CA 91745 
     USA 
     Telephone and fax: (818) 333-6125 

     Peter Bisno 
     Law Offices of Bisno and Samberg 
     201 South Lake Avenue 
     Suite 411 
     Pasadena, CA 91101-3016 
     USA 
     Telephone: (818) 585-8899 
     Fax: (818) 585-1899 

[14 images of golden cryptograms; some appear to show a 
bearded, pony-tailed cryptoanarchist]

prepared by Kevin McCurley

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