A SECRET Nazi code machine used to swap messages between Hitler and his generals was found languishing in a Southend shed.

The device was put on eBay with an asking price of less than a tenner, before being spotted by astonished volunteers from the National Museum of Computing, based at Bletchley Park, in Buckinghamshire.

The Lorenz machine keyboard was being advertised as a telegram machine, and only after closer inspection was its military past uncovered.

Dr Stephen Fleming, from the museum, which snapped up the device, is trying to get back in touch with the owners.

Volunteers failed to take down their contact details, despite visiting their Southend home to collect the machine.

He said: “The volunteers didn’t realise just how significant it was.

“There are quite a few Lorenz parts around but it wasn’t until they started refurbishing it they realised it was for military use.

"It it would be fantastic if the owners see this and contact us because we would love to have them at the museum.

"It would also be fascinating to know why this person had it in their shed."

John Wetter, a volunteer at the museum, told the BBC: "My colleague was scanning eBay and he saw a photograph of what seemed to be the teleprinter”.

He then went to Southend to investigate further where he found the keyboard, in its original case, on the floor of a shed "with rubbish all over it."

He said: "We said 'Thank you very much, how much was it again?' She said '£9.50', so we said 'Here's a £10 note - keep the change!'"

The teleprinter, which looks like a typewriter, would have been used to enter messages in German.

These were then encrypted by a linked cipher machine, using 12 individual wheels with multiple settings on each, to make up the code.

One key part is still missing and volunteers are searching for it.

Mr Wetter said: "It looks like an electric motor in black casing with two shafts on each side, which drive the gears of the Lorenz machine.”

Andy Clark, chairman of the trustees at the National Museum of Computing, said the Lorenz was stationed in secure locations because it was much bigger than the famous portable Enigma machine.

He said: "Everybody knows about Enigma, but the Lorenz machine was used for strategic communications.

"It is so much more complicated than the Enigma machine and, after the war, machines of the same style remained in use."

The museum has just received a complete machine on loan from Norway's Armed Forces Museum.

Volunteers are hoping to recreate the whole process on Friday, from typing a message in German to cracking the code using wartime equipment.

Mr Clark said: "This gives us the chance to show the breaking of the Lorenz cipher code from start to finish.

"We can show every single point in the process."