TAMAM SHUD MYSTERY: VERSE 70 & THE FEZ....VIDEO...

...A FEZ FULL OF CODE....

 

As alluded to in the most recent post which discussed the code page and showed examples, in the image of a young Omar Khayyam, here's the close-up image of the Fez and face and as you can see, it is full of short sets of mostly numbers with just a few letters scattered across. (Thanks to Bob Forest for that tidbit of information,  LINK TO BOB'S VERY INFORMATIVE PAGE ON THE WHITCOMBE & TOMBS RUBAIYAT), 

The 4 arrows point to specific instances. Starting from the left, within the tassel, you will be able to make out strings of letters and numbers that run vertically, the next arrow points to the right eye and eyebrow which have been outlined entirely in letters and numbers, the left eye and eyebrow is similar. The fourth arrow points to the left sideburn into which some larger letters and numbers have been written, it shows the darker markings against the lighter grey background. To the right, the sideburn is much smaller in view but again it has been filled with micro characters.

The full illustration is in fact written in micro-coded letters and numbers. The technique is based on a Hebrew practice although it was widely practiced by other religions. SOE in the UK took it up for their INK H method, 

the manual of which can be found here...

The method used by the Hebrew community is called micrography, here are a couple of YouTube videos that explain the techniques and history with some examples:

And here's a copy of the Boxall Rubaiyat from which this image and the Verse 70 inscription written by Jestyn, came.

Both the inscription and title pages as well as the book edge and a hand-drawn line that appears between the two pages have microcode present. 

This post is based on 10 years of researching and studying the various concealment methods used to hide clandestine messages during both World Wars and the Cold War. There are other examples of microwritten codes and letters and I will post more here in the next week or so.

The recovery technique used was a combination of oblique lighting, macro photography, and of course, an acidic fluid used to loosen and progressively remove thin layers of ink with the lighter colours being acted on first. The fluid was citric acid. It has been demonstrated here and elsewhere to be effective in this process. 

There will be other posts in this series in the coming days...