The London Ornate pillar box decorated the streets of London from the years 1857-1859. The post box was a collaboration between the Post Office and the Government’s Department of Arts and Science, 50 of which were created.
The post box featured gold mouldings of animal heads and festoons along with a cypher ‘VR’ design in honour of Queen Victoria, who reigned at the time.
Why isn’t it on every corner today? Well, through focusing so much on the look of the box, the designers overlooked the practicalities and initially forgot to include a gap for the letters.
Another thing to note is the colour. In Victorian times the ‘bronzing’ technique was popular, whereby green paint was applied and dusted with bronze powder. However, the colour was not distinguishable enough and postal authorities received complaints that the post boxes were hard to find, which brings us to todays post boxes, a bright red.
The Ornate Pillar Box can be seen at The Postal Museum. Visit Here
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