12a Pillar Box G.P.O. (1935-40)

Some pictures of the prewar Pillar Box G.P.O. below. The first picture shows the prewar generation of the pillar box and the postmen (nos. 12d & 12e) on the left and their postwar counterparts on the right. It is obvious that the prewar Pillar Box bears the oval sign, whereas the postwar example (no. 760) is a new casting without, and 'EIIR' replaced 'GR', both in relief. The sign is very vulnerable, especially when fatigue has struck the casting. So I'm very happy with this intact example. There is also an obvious difference between the pre and postwar figures. The prewar examples are painted in a darker blue and show a lot of manually applied details. The same casting was used for the blue no.12c Pillar Box Air Mail, also a rather hard to find item in this condition. Kind regards, Jan

Hello Jan, Your excellent (as usual) pictures show a different height for the Post Office and the Airmail boxes. Is this a visual effect or were there two different moulds ? which are the heights ?

Jacques, there is some optical illusion, but nevertheless they are different in size indeed. In fact the whole party shown is not free from fatigue here and there. Still very fine for their age in my opinion. The dimensions (approximately) in height: Air Mail 4.9 mm, postwar Royal Mail 4.2 mm, prewar Royal Mail 5.2 mm. Kind regards, Jan

Dear Jan, Thank you for your speedy response but you probably mean centimeters not millimeters ?

Probably I do!