Buying Old Postboxes - Some Notes for collectors new and old

Places to buy

Until 2003, it was possible to buy redundant boxes direct from Royal Mail. However, with the adoption of a blanket "listing" policy jointly by English Heritage and Royal Mail, the process was halted. Today, boxes are either re-sited, scrapped or stored for further use. In special circumstances, a box may be donated to a bona fide museum if no further use can be found for it. Today the best places to find old boxes are in reclamation yards and on internet auction sites - although extreme care must be exercised to avoid handling stolen boxes or modern replicas posing as authentic historic items. You should expect to pay several hundreds of pounds for any genuine box, possibly a lot more for older, rarer boxes.

We are often asked "Where can I get my own Post Box?". It is not that easy, but these dealers are a good starting point:

Below Stairs - a well known antiques dealer in Hungerford. Will export

Unicorn Kiosks - The largest telephone kiosk reclamation centre in the UK, sometimes has boxes

Fagin's Antiques- Large reclamation yard near Exeter with a good selection of old boxes

Wells Reclamation - a large yard in Somerset has some (mostly pillar) boxes

UK Architectural Antiques - Specialist yard in Staffordshire - lists post boxes in Ebay Shop

Solopark - East Anglia's foremost salvage yard ocassionally has boxes (Jan 07- VR A PIllar).

Salvo Web is the web portal for the UK Architectural Salvage community with links to many dealers

Surplus items we have for sale

Ocassionally we dispose of postal-related items which are surplus to our needs. These may include collection plates, time tablets or other parts no longer required for restoration. In addition we stock an excellent range of quality enamel die-cut Fridge Magnets, Badges and Key rings depicting post boxes, telephone kiosks and otherstreet furniture. These are available by mail order.

Click here to visit the Museum Shop.