1910-13 Perforation 14 £1 deep carmine and blue-black, RSC 'B',

Harmers of London 22-23 October 1986 (Lot 1159)
Sotheby's "Sir Gawaine Baillie" 27-29 September 2006 (Lot 595) as a strip of four

This remarkable strip first made an appearance as a new discovery, together with other 'Double Head' multiples, at a Harmers of London auction in 1986. Sir Gawaine had not seen the catalogue and when alerted to this piece by Sotheby's resolved to buy it.

When Sir Gawaine's collection was offered for sale, David Barton saw this strip as being one of the great 'Double Head' £1 mint multiples, both in terms of the rarity of the printing and exceptional condition. This item was also treasured by another collector, Dr Arnold Brickman from America, but from a totally different perspective. Dr Brickman wanted the lowest stamp in the strip, Position 40, for his plating study and was prepared to buy the entire strip to secure this position for his collection. A titanic battle in the auction room resulted in David Barton buying the strip. Dr Brickman had already been very successful in the sale so this was disappointing rather than a disaster.

After the sale David Barton and Arnie Brickman adjourned to Sotheby's café to discuss the sale. This led to a quite remarkable offer by David to sell Arnie the last stamp in the strip. The ceremonial 'separation' took place in an almost spiritual atmosphere and resulted in what gave David the greatest pleasure – enriching the life of another human being.