St Pauls 2s6d
S.G.300A, PIERRON MA600MCA

It is widely stated that only four mint examples of the the 1960 2s6d Gold Omitted exist, certainly some of the extremely high prices realised at auction would support this theory.

Below is listed some of the recent appearances at auction over the last year and a bit :

Sotheby's Auctions David Barton Sale 6-March-2009 Sale L09840 Lot 297 Est. £200 to £300 Realised £938 (inc Premium)
Sotheby's Auctions David Barton Sale 6-March-2009 Sale L09840 Lot 298 Est. £300 to £350 Realised £1,875 (inc Premium)
Spink Peirron Sale 8-December-2009 Sale 9037 Lot 1385 Est £1,200 to £1,500 Realised £1,700
Victoria Stamp Auctions Charles Tipton Sale 30-January-2010 Sale 27 Lot 1844 Est $1,200 Realised $2,000

It has been confirm by Tom Pierron that the one sold in his sale of 8-December was the second item (Lot 298) in the Sotheby's sale, i can't see that the remaining two can be associated to each other so that leaves three unique items - add the example i have..

..and you potentially have your four mint examples finally unmasked in a single year.. yet i know of at least one other MSC member who is reported to own one, so just how many mint examples are there?

The first Sotheby's item is rather interesting as its a side marginal and i would have thought this would have been mentioned or surfaced previously?

The study paper no. 45 says :
"Only part of a sheet is reported to have existed and most examples were used to services first day covers. It is probable that only four mint copies are in existence"
Can anyone elaborate on above, i wasn't born at the time but there are possibly members who were actively collecting at the time and who may have additional references from the press at the time?

So my question is - do you own one? - are you the proud owner of one of the above auction lots? ; if so please leave a comment or contact me (click on envelope above) if you can provide a scan.

UPDATE 27-April-2010 : Copy No 5
The below scan of a another existing item was sent to me by a Study Circle Member

UPDATE 18-November-2010 : Copy Nos 6,7,8,9,10,11
A Study Circle Member sent me the below scans of a single item that he owns and another single and corner block of four!! owned by his friend.

  

This now bring the mint total so far to eleven - can anyone offer any more examples?

UPDATE 30-12-2017 : A copy sold at Spink, Sale 16027, Lot 811
Sold £850 + 20% comission
This copy shows two small marks in margin near XIX, not seen on other examples so likley No 12 ?

The Used Examples

Of course they are reported to be many more used examples, which are all supposed to be used on FDC's? - i certainly have never noted a single used example (does anyone have one?). Listed below are references to the used i am aware of... considerably less than the mint at present!