A country house post box, thick and beautiful cuts of satinwood cover the sides whilst rosewood is used for the slotted lid; both timbers exported to England from Southern India and Ceylon from early in the 19th century.
Following Sir Rowland Hill’s reforms of the Post Office in 1840, the cheap and reliable post service lead to an exponential rise in letter writing. It became customary to have a letters box such as this kept in the hallway of a country house, emptied at set intervals by a servant who would then take the letters to the nearest post office for onward delivery.
English circa 1840.
W:9.75 ins x d:6 ins x h:6.5 ins.
Item Code: 5364
£ 850
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