Collection of Post Office Ephemera Heading Under the Hammer

The Royal Mail is part of our daily life with deliveries of letters and parcels; plus it has been responsible for some of the shaping and colour in the traditional British way of life and landscape. This interesting collection, comprising 160 lots for sale at Vectis auctions on Thursday, 17th January 2013, reflects many facets of the British postal service throughout history.

Some of the more amazing iems include a fantastic array of tinplate money boxs. The banks are mainly pillar-box shaped (both oval and circular in cross section), with some in the form of telephone kiosks, including confectionery containers by Jacobs Biscuits, Oxo, Huntley & Palmers, Sainsburys, A1 Biscuit Company, R S McColl, Gray, Dunn & Co, Hudson, Scott & Co, Rowntrees, Peek Frean, Bryant & May matchbox “Vesta” holders, Boots the Chemists “Go to Bed” paraffin lamps, spice boxes, radio license savings, holiday savings, war effort, air mail, National Savings Certificates, Mickey Mouse and Pluto plus some with Royal Coronation theme.

They cover periods from the Victorian period until more recent times and illustrate H.M.S Victory- “England Expects Everyone to buy War Savings Certificates”, Victorian coins/currency, decimal currency, Victorian era, nursery themes such as Old Mother Hubbard, British Bulldog, Busby, Christmas scenes, and a standard red pillar box painted with lower black and white stripes used as a visibility aid to traffic during the blackout.

These tinplate containers, often bought as Christmas presents, were intended to be used as savings banks once the delicious contents had been devoured!  Typical manufacturers include Chad Valley, Burnett, Happynak, Berwick Toys, Combex, Reliable Series, Acme Toys and Guiterman.

Other mainly British toys include tinplate, plastic, lead and diecast vehicles, street furniture and figures by such well known makes as Wells, Mettoy, Triang, Dinky, Tippco, Morestone, Charbens, Johilco, Crescent and Taylor and Barrett. Many have a Post Office theme however there are a number of other civilian vehicles too.

Also in this collection are a number of interesting items of Post Office Ephemera. These include postmens’ personal badges, whistle, key fob, postmasters’ letter scales and rulers, John Sinclair’s GPO brand cigarette packet, enamel plaques, framed stamp collections and pictures, telegrams, and even a number of GPO cycle accessories!

For further information on these items please contact Kathy Taylor on +44 (0) 1642 750616 or check the website.