doodlepostsUpdated
CYPHER-SPOTTING
Look just below the slot.
Almost every British postbox carries the cypher of the monarch who reigned when it was made. With its shape and colour, that small badge tells you roughly when it first went on the street.
VR TO CHARLES III since 1852
Spot a cypher
THE SHORT ANSWER
The Postal Museum holds more than 200 boxes.
Most of what they reveal can be read on the street.
CYPHER
The custom of putting the monarch’s cypher on letter boxes dates back to the earliest Victorian roadside boxes. VR, ER VII, GR, GVIR and EIIR each mark a reign.
Spot a cypherSHAPE
The hexagonal Penfold was introduced in 1866 and discontinued in 1879. The Type A of 1879 first combined a cylindrical body with a round, domed lid.
Read the shapesCOLOUR
Boxes were standardised as green by 1859. In 1874 the Post Office ordered red, and boxes were repainted over the following years.
See the numbersSPOT A CYPHER
Choose a cypher to see which reign it comes from and what to look for. The bar shows how rare a find it is.
Based on the Postal Museum’s guide to royal cyphers on letter boxes (2022).
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
How many boxes there are to find,
and how few carry the rarest cypher.
115,500
Postboxes in the national directory
The Letter Box Study Group, formed in 1976, keeps a directory of the nation’s 115,500 postboxes and has identified thirteen variants of the Penfold alone.
ALL BOXES · LBSG
< 200
Boxes made in his name
Edward VIII reigned for 326 days in 1936, so fewer than 200 boxes bear his cypher. One is on display at the Postal Museum.
EDWARD VIII · POSTAL MUSEUM
Buildings of Ireland records that about 300 Penfold boxes were made and about half remain in use, some as far away as Australia and India.
FOUR SHAPES TO KNOW
Shape narrows the date further. These are milestones from the Postal Museum’s history of the post box.
The first British pillar boxes opened on Jersey on 23 November 1852, a hexagonal design with VR.
Handsome and hexagonal but too expensive to make. Replicas were added at historic places from 1988.
Red and black, with a cylindrical body and convex round lid, a design still familiar today.
The square sheet-steel F type rusted badly; the cast-iron ‘cigar-shaped’ K type was made until 2000.
SCOTLAND
Elizabeth II was not the second Elizabeth to reign in Scotland, so the first EIIR boxes there met strong opposition, including attacks on the boxes. The Cabinet agreed an alternative design.
Scottish boxes carry only the Crown of St Andrew, from the Honours of Scotland. The Postal Museum says King Charles III’s cypher will not be applied to new boxes in Scotland; elsewhere, the first box with his cypher was unveiled on 12 July 2024 in Great Cambourne.
Questions
How can I tell how old a postbox is?
Start with the royal cypher, which shows the reign it was made in. Shape helps too: hexagonal Penfolds date from 1866 to 1879, and the round-lidded Type A design from 1879.
Why were some postboxes green?
By 1859 boxes were generally standardised as green. After complaints that they were hard to find, the Post Office ordered red in 1874, and boxes were repainted over the following years.
Why is Edward VIII’s cypher so rare?
He reigned for only 326 days in 1936, so fewer than 200 boxes were made with his cypher, according to the Postal Museum.
Why do Scottish postboxes have a crown instead of EIIR?
Elizabeth I never reigned in Scotland, so the numeral II caused controversy. Boxes in Scotland use the Crown of St Andrew instead, and the Postal Museum says this will continue.
Can a postbox be painted another colour?
The Postal Museum says Royal Mail agreed boxes will be painted a colour other than standard red only where there is historic precedent, under a Joint Policy Statement renewed in 2015.
ABOUT THIS NAME
doodleposts.com is part of the DoodleSale portfolio. It isn't in an auction right now, but you can ask about leasing it.
