'Anonymous' Pillar Box, 1883-1887
'Anonymous' Pillar Box, 1883-1887
Accession number: OB1994.35
This iconic cylindrical pillar box was first introduced in 1879 but with a few minor modifications, is still in use today. The box pictured was one of the first of its type and was known as the 'Anonymous' box as the royal cipher, crown and the words 'Post Office' had been accidentally omitted.
The oversight was not corrected until 1887. Since this time all boxes have featured the cipher of the current monarch. In Scotland, however, boxes nowadays feature only the Scottish Crown as Queen Elizabeth II is only the first Queen Elizabeth of Scotland.
These boxes came in two sizes, type A (large) and type B (small). The box pictured is a B type box but we also have an Anonymous type A in the collection. This box is an example of one manufactured between 1883 and 1887, when the aperture was lowered after complaints from the public that letters were trapped in the top. Surviving examples of these types are not as common as those with the higher aperture.
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