================================================================================ UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Form 13F Form 13F COVER PAGE Report for the Calendar Year or Quarter: June 30, 2012 Check here if Amendment [ ]; Amendment Number: _________ This Amendment (Check only one.): [ ] is a restatement. [ ] adds new holdings entries. Institutional Investment Manager Filing this Report: Name: Markel Corporation Address: 4521 Highwoods Pkwy Glen Allen, VA 23060 Form 13F File Number: 28-6647 The institutional investment manager filing this report and the person by whom it is signed hereby represent that the person signing the report is authorized to submit it, that all information contained herein is true, correct and complete, and that it is understood that all required items, statements, schedules, lists, and tables, are considered integral parts of this form. Person Signing this Report on Behalf of Reporting Manager: Name: Thomas S. Gayner Title: President and Chief Investment Officer Phone: 804-527-3806 Signature, Place, and Date of Signing: /s/ Thomas S. Gayner Richmond, VA 08/09/2012 ---------------------- ---------------------------- ------------------- [Signature] [City, State] [Date] Report Type (Check only one.): [X] 13F HOLDINGS REPORT. (Check here if all holdings of this reporting manager are reported in this report.) [ ] 13F NOTICE. (Check here if no holdings reported are in this report, and all holdings are reported by other reporting manager(s).) [ ] 13F COMBINATION REPORT. (Check here if a portion of the holdings for this reporting manager are reported in this report and a portion are reported by other reporting manager(s).) ================================================================================ Form 13F SUMMARY PAGE Report Summary: Number of Other Included Managers: 1 Form 13F Information Table Entry Total: 131 Form 13F Information Table Value Total: $ 2,187,192 -------------- (thousands) List of Other Included Managers: Provide a numbered list of the name(s) and Form 13F file number(s) of all institutional investment managers with respect to which this report is filed, other than the manager filing this report. No. Form 13F File Number Name --- -------------------- ----- 1 28-6056 Markel Gayner Asset Management Corporation 2 Markel Corporation FORM 13F June 30, 2012 VOTING AUTHORITY VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER -------------------------- NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE ------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- -------- 3M Company COM 88579y101 2688 30000 SH Sole 30000 15528 173300 SH Defined 01 171000 2300 Accenture COM G1151C101 601 10000 SH Sole 10000 6532 108700 SH Defined 01 100000 8700 Air Products & Chemicals COM 009158106 1276 15800 SH Defined 01 12000 3800 Alleghany Corporation COM 017175100 1470 4328 SH Sole 4328 Altria COM 02209S103 4056 117400 SH Defined 01 114500 2900 American Express COM 025816109 582 10000 SH Sole 10000 21200 364196 SH Defined 01 339000 25196 Anheuser-Busch Inbev ADR COM 03524A108 32059 402501 SH Defined 01 390000 12501 Archer Daniels COM 039483102 29101 985800 SH Defined 01 980000 5800 Artio Global Investors COM 04315B107 19929 5694000 SH Defined 01 5683000 11000 Automatic Data Processing COM 053015103 28865 518600 SH Defined 01 507700 10900 Bank of New York Mellon Corp COM 064058100 66 3019 SH Sole 3019 4972 226527 SH Defined 01 214907 11620 Barrett Business Systems COM 068463108 433 20500 SH Defined 01 20000 500 Berkshire Hathaway Class B COM 084670702 40423 485100 SH Sole 485100 90189 1082307 SH Defined 01 1026507 55800 Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. COM 084670108 34360 275 SH Sole 275 100206 802 SH Defined 01 775 27 Brookfield Asset Management COM 112585104 14233 430000 SH Sole 430000 88064 2660531 SH Defined 01 2495548 164983 Brookfield Residential COM 11283W104 1074 98500 SH Defined 01 96500 2000 Brown & Brown COM 115236101 9971 365628 SH Defined 01 365628 Brown Forman Class A COM 115637100 26957 283760 SH Defined 01 281000 2760 Brown-Forman Class B COM 115637209 6868 70915 SH Defined 01 70250 665 Calamos Asset Management COM 12811R104 1374 120000 SH Defined 01 120000 Calumet COM 131476103 238 10000 SH Sole 10000 642 27000 SH Defined 01 25000 2000 Capital One COM 14040H105 9806 179400 SH Defined 01 170000 9400 Carbo Ceramics Inc COM 140781105 5294 69000 SH Defined 01 69000 Carmax COM 143130102 6096 235000 SH Sole 235000 127737 4924320 SH Defined 01 4728070 196250 Caterpillar Inc COM 149123101 20942 246634 SH Defined 01 241000 5634 Charles Schwab COM 808513105 12851 993900 SH Defined 01 935000 58900 Coca Cola Co COM 191216100 4926 63000 SH Defined 01 60000 3000 Colfax Corporation COM 194014106 29915 1085070 SH Sole 1085070 Contango Oil & Gas COM 21075n204 2398 40500 SH Defined 01 40500 Costco COM 22160K105 475 5000 SH Sole 5000 3372 35500 SH Defined 01 34000 1500 DENTSPLY COM 249030107 1338 35400 SH Defined 01 35000 400 Dell Inc COM 24702R101 2815 225000 SH Defined 01 225000 Diageo PLC COM 25243Q205 33858 328500 SH Sole 328500 93767 909737 SH Defined 01 861500 48237 Disney COM 254687106 9700 200000 SH Sole 200000 65320 1346802 SH Defined 01 1284500 62302 Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc COM 26153C103 1868 98000 SH Defined 01 98000 EOG Resources, Inc. COM 26875p101 7560 83900 SH Defined 01 83500 400 Eagle Materials COM 26969p108 2184 58500 SH Defined 01 58500 Ecolab COM 278865100 3317 48400 SH Defined 01 48000 400 Emerson Electric COM 291011104 8007 171900 SH Defined 01 158000 13900 Enterprise Products Lmtd Ptnsh COM 293792107 323 6300 SH Defined 01 6300 Expeditors Int'l Wash Inc COM 302130109 2829 73000 SH Defined 01 73000 Exxon Corporation COM 30231G102 17097 199800 SH Sole 199800 53726 627861 SH Defined 01 587000 40861 Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd COM 303901102 104625 267104 SH Sole 267104 4839 12355 SH Defined 01 12355 Federated Investors COM 314211103 218 10000 SH Sole 10000 3 Markel Corporation FORM 13F June 30, 2012 VOTING AUTHORITY VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER -------------------------- NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE ------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- -------- 46912 2147000 SH Defined 01 2124000 23000 Fidelity National Financial COM 31620R105 2683 139300 SH Defined 01 113000 26300 General Dynamics COM 369550108 26222 397544 SH Defined 01 382000 15544 General Electric COM 369604103 28393 1362450 SH Sole 1362450 21984 1054904 SH Defined 01 942550 112354 Hasbro, Inc COM 418056107 1355 40000 SH Defined 01 40000 Heritage Crystal Clean Inc COM 42726M106 3916 239500 SH Defined 01 239500 Home Depot COM 437076102 1060 20000 SH Sole 20000 49835 940452 SH Defined 01 900000 40452 Illinois Tool Works COM 452308109 13151 248652 SH Defined 01 230000 18652 Intel COM 458140100 1599 60000 SH Sole 60000 20791 780142 SH Defined 01 750000 30142 International Business Machine COM 459200101 1956 10000 SH Sole 10000 2014 10300 SH Defined 01 10000 300 International Game Technology COM 459902102 3937 250000 SH Sole 250000 13590 862856 SH Defined 01 820000 42856 Investors Title Company COM 461804106 13017 228650 SH Defined 01 213300 15350 Johnson and Johnson COM 478160104 18917 280000 SH Sole 280000 19072 282295 SH Defined 01 271700 10595 Lennar Corp - B COM 526057302 2444 101700 SH Defined 01 101700 Lennox International COM 526107107 11821 253500 SH Defined 01 253000 500 Leucadia National Corp COM 527288104 14267 670766 SH Defined 01 650000 20766 Loews Corporation COM 540424108 9839 240500 SH Defined 01 235000 5500 Louisiana Pacific Corp COM 546347105 1273 117000 SH Defined 01 117000 Lowes COM 548661107 2702 95000 SH Sole 95000 13259 466200 SH Defined 01 430000 36200 Marriott International COM 571903202 7133 181965 SH Sole 181965 47191 1203853 SH Defined 01 1101907 101946 Marriott Vacations Worldwide COM 57164Y107 564 18196 SH Sole 18196 3560 114919 SH Defined 01 110186 4733 Mastercard, Inc COM 57636Q104 1290 3000 SH Defined 01 3000 McCormick and Company COM 579780206 1031 17000 SH Defined 01 17000 McDonalds COM 580135101 16875 190609 SH Defined 01 181000 9609 Microsoft Corp COM 594918104 24567 803090 SH Defined 01 784000 19090 Monsanto Co COM 61166W101 2161 26100 SH Defined 01 25000 1100 Mosaic Company COM 61945c103 1807 33000 SH Defined 01 33000 National Oilwell COM 637071101 5477 85000 SH Defined 01 85000 Nicholas Financial COM 65373j209 1968 153500 SH Defined 01 153500 Nike COM 654106103 4407 50200 SH Defined 01 50000 200 Northern Trust Corp COM 665859104 6443 140000 SH Defined 01 140000 Novo-Nordisk A/S COM 670100205 33268 228900 SH Defined 01 215000 13900 Oracle Corp COM 68389x105 18405 619700 SH Defined 01 586000 33700 Patterson Companies Inc. COM 703395103 5053 146600 SH Defined 01 145000 1600 Paychex COM 704326107 4740 150900 SH Defined 01 150000 900 Pepsico COM 713448108 8691 123000 SH Defined 01 122300 700 Philip Morris International COM 718172109 10183 116700 SH Defined 01 114500 2200 Plum Creek Lumber MLP COM 729251108 5955 150000 SH Sole 150000 8015 201900 SH Defined 01 200000 1900 RLI Corporation COM 749607107 41797 612862 SH Defined 01 598636 14226 SEI Investments Co COM 784117103 2188 110000 SH Defined 01 110000 Schlumberger COM 806857108 9412 145000 SH Defined 01 145000 State Street Corp COM 857477103 1803 40400 SH Defined 01 40400 Sysco Corp COM 871829107 2534 85000 SH Sole 85000 20983 703899 SH Defined 01 640000 63899 T.Rowe Price COM 74144T108 693 11000 SH Sole 11000 15079 239500 SH Defined 01 239000 500 Teva Pharmaceuticals COM 881624209 21830 553500 SH Defined 01 544000 9500 Union First Market Bankshares COM 90662P104 50646 3504920 SH Sole 3504920 4 Markel Corporation FORM 13F June 30, 2012 VOTING AUTHORITY VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER -------------------------- NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE ------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- -------- United Parcel Service COM 911312106 5475 69520 SH Sole 69520 52997 672889 SH Defined 01 628980 43909 United Technologies COM 913017109 4048 53600 SH Defined 01 53000 600 Visa COM 92826C839 11881 96100 SH Defined 01 96000 100 Vodafone Group COM 92857w209 564 20000 SH Defined 01 20000 W.P. Carey COM 92930Y107 2071 45000 SH Sole 45000 41989 912200 SH Defined 01 905200 7000 Wal-Mart Stores COM 931142103 8117 116425 SH Sole 116425 69458 996238 SH Defined 01 930575 65663 Walgreen COM 931422109 25701 868860 SH Defined 01 855000 13860 Washington Post Co COM 939640108 1981 5300 SH Defined 01 5200 100 Washington Real Estate Investm COM 939653101 266 9366 SH Defined 01 9366 Watsco Inc COM 942622200 2952 40000 SH Defined 01 40000 Western Union COM 959802109 6568 390000 SH Defined 01 390000 Yum! Brands Inc COM 988498101 206 3200 SH Defined 01 3200 REPORT SUMMARY 131 DATA RECORDS 2187192 1 OTHER MANAGERS ON WHOSE BEHALF REPORTS IS FILED 5