On this day in 1962, it was reported that the Cyprus Republic had more than £30,000 in cash for 785 Premium Bonds holders who were apparently unaware of their luck, most of them believed to be living in Britain.
During the war years, the Cyprus Colonial Government floated a succession of war loans in £5 and £10 Premium Bonds which won cash prizes of up to £500 at monthly draws.
Hundreds of British Servicemen then in Cyprus bought these bonds as souvenirs, and later left the island to serve in other theatres of operations.
Officials in Nicosia presumed that a number among these bondholders died during the North African campaign, others lost their bonds in the fighting, and still others possibly forgot all about them on demobilisation.
However, on this day in 1962, the Republic’s Gazette listed 785 numbers of bonds winning prizes at draws since 1943—but whose prize-monies remain unclaimed.
These totaled £30,880.
The money was at the Republic’s treasury, left behind by the British when the island achieved independence in 1960.
Cyprus officials were convinced that there must be hundreds of bond-holders in Britain today who are unaware of their good luck.