Protecting Our Postal Heritage

© Arthur Reeder/Isle of Wight Postal Museum 2000 - 2016

 About the Collection

 How it all began or The Box Wot Started It All !!!

   The first box which started off the collection was a "rescue"!

  I was on holiday in North Wales in 1994 when I traveled up to Rhyl Station to see a rare wooden 'bracket' box.

   When I got there, all I could  see was the painted outline on the wall where it had been for the previous

   100+ years.  

   After asking workmen where the box had gone, I discovered that the remains of the box were actually to be

   found in the rubbish skip.  I rescued the bits, took them  home and restored the box to it’s former glory.

   The work included stripping off as much as 3/8 inch of paint in some places.   But doing it all by hand, I did find

   evidence of the original hand painted script at the top of the box.

   I had all this faithfully copied and  finished off the job with a brand new enamel collection plate.

   This gave me the start in collecting postboxes and it has gone downhill since to the point where we have over

   220 boxes in the collection (June 2016).

   Not all the examples in the collection were as bad as this one when they arrived .....

                                                                                                                         ...............some have even been worse!!!