UK Postboxes

TinderbiscuitTinderbiscuit ✭✭✭
edited November 2019 in Wayfarer (Archive)

I've seen a few mentions of postboxes in the UK but no specific thread. The general concensus is that Victorian postboxes are a definite yes. Anything other than that should be rejected. I'm only posting after being a bit dubious about the number of posts about "rare and unique George V" postboxes, and then during review I see this...

There are literally tens of thousands of these across the country. If you're from the UK you don't give them a second thought in everyday life. I also certainly wouldn't take a visitor from another country to go see a Royal Mail postbox as an attraction. There are far more interesting things to see! Postboxes are so common, a visitor is likely to see multiple on a walk into a town or village.

The "visually unique" criteria here is a bit odd. Yes, it looks visually distinct, but actually there are SO MANY of them there will be lots of them in the area. If being painted bright red is satisfies the criteria then why isn't every stop sign submitted? If enabling communication is the important factor then why isn't every PC with a web browser tagged? If they are important because they're uniquely "British" then why aren't we tagging every road sign in Britain because the style is different to the US, Australia, etc...

I personally don't see the appeal. Can someone convince me?

Comments

  • They are on a historical list and niantic has answered in a tread to accept. May not be rare to you but without them a lot of towns and villages really will have no portals.

    Anything ER is a reject as the queen is the current monarch.

  • Can you point me to some text where Niantic confirm this? :)

  • Theres a thread somewhere on here. I'll have a look in a bit

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    The general concensus is that Victorian postboxes are a definite yes. Anything other than that should be rejected.

    No, the consensus was anything not Elizabeth II or George V should be allowed. The rarest of all are Edward VIII. Unless of course a specific Elizabeth II or George V box is listed. There are over 4000 listed post boxes in the UK, some of the Grade I.

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    There are a small number of ER post boxes that are Grade I listed for other reasons which should be explained in the supporting information. This is why you need to use your judgement, not just blindly go by a "one size fits all" rule.

  • Unfortunately most of the submissions I see are copy/pasted information from someone's clipboard with no mention of them being listed. I know a lot of agents who are frustrated by the number of postbox submissions. Also, how can you verify that it's a listed postbox? They could say it in the description but that doesn't make it true. Mostly I'm just looking for a way to narrow down any uncertainty I might have about submissions and improve my ability as a reviewer. :)

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    Also, how can you verify that it's a listed postbox?

    Search the listings with Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland or Henebion Cymru. But that should be the submitter's job. A submission of any listed structure should include this information.

    Here's the first listing that came up in a search: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1096265

    If I was submitting this, I would include the Grade, List Entry Number and year of listing.

  • Yeah I'm sure it's a real small handful like 10 out of the 10,000 ER. so yea on the whole ER are reject.

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    Actually there are about 70,000 E II R boxes. 😀

    This is a useful free publication: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/royal-mail-post-boxes/heritage-agreement-for-royal-mail-post-boxes/

  • Ech0TomEch0Tom ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    GRV, GRVI, VR, ERVII, ERVIII, liverpool specials, olympic gold, grade listed, scottish with no sipher all acceptable, EIIR not acceptable.

    You need to grade them according to the system

    Title - if it has the correct name/correct street = 5 star

    description - if it lists the correct names and dates and historical information = 5 star

    Are they historically or culturally significant = 5 star, they absolutely are

    Visually unique = 3 star, depends on the area, newer areas have far less post boxes making them more unique

    Safe access = 4/5 star depending how far away from the road they are

    location accuracy = 5 star, you can see post boxes on almost every street view/satellite view and position them perfectly.

    The reason people add words like rare or historical to titles is because ingress players deny good stuff for stupid reasons so they try to hype up certain aspects, shouldnt be a problem now pogo players have access to wayfarer.

    They make really good, safe to access portals for everyone, in rural areas/villages which are generally older it allows players to get a decent amount of portals where usually they may be stuck with none. In bigger towns and cities post offices are dissapearing constantly so these make a good replacement for them.

    Also, we aren't going to get any new post boxes now realistically, when Liz kicks the bucket some/most of hers will just have their doors replaced to represent whoever takes the throne.

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    G V R is probably not acceptable. They are the second most common after E II R. Unless of course an individual box is listed for other reasons.

  • Thank you everyone for this discussion. I'm feeling a bit more confident reviewing these now. :)

  • This is the amount of each post box’s cyphers and % , best use your own judgement . I like most of the rare ones as they have stood the test of time through 2 world wars when all metal was being used to make weapons. What really surprised me was I walked past a box every day for 30 ish years and never payed it any attention until the postbox discussion in our OPR chat . When I looked at it, it’s a eddy8th and rare as hell ... who knew lol

    now I can’t go anywhere and not look to see what cypher adorns these cute red ( sometimes gold and white ) box’s.

  • FYI Scottish with no Cypher only a crown are the most common in Scotland. They are really EiiRs but the Scottish kicked off about that because they never had an Elizabeth 1st

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