A miniature post box just 18 inches high is one of the headline pieces at the LAPADA Berkeley Square Fair in Mayfair, London W1, which runs from Tuesday to Sunday this week, the Daily Mail reports.

The little red letter box

The box dates to 1875 and is described as an early postal wonder. It is believed to be one of only a handful painted in Royal Mail's standard red, as miniature boxes were usually left in natural wood. It stands at a quarter of the height of a standard pillar box.

Leicestershire-based antiques dealer Mark Goodger is selling it for £17,500. He said an oak version would cost £8,500 to £9,000. He said the type was used in country houses, by the household, staff and people from the surrounding village, and was placed in foyers so people could post their letters. It may also have been used in a hotel.

Mr Goodger called it ‘one of the best examples I’ve ever seen’. He said its provenance was missing when he bought it from another dealer, which he said was unsurprising given its age. The box was made less than 20 years after Richard Redgrave designed the first pillar post box in 1856.

Other rarities on sale

  • A silver mounted horn casket made in 1901, priced at £45,000. It was commissioned for Queen Victoria to mark the new century, but after her death in January 1901 it was presented to King Edward VII by the Worshipful Company of Horners. It is made from British bullock horn and bound with hallmarked silver gilt straps.
  • A Leuchars coromandel decanter from 1880, engraved with the crest of its one-time owners, the McCarthy Reagh family, which shows a lizard held in a fist.
  • A six-inch papier-mâché tea caddy by Henry Clay England, dating to 1793, with a plaster portrait of King Louis XVI. The decoration is said to reflect British fascination with the French Revolution.

About the fair

Founded in 2009, the Berkeley Square Fair is run by LAPADA, the UK's largest association of art and antiques dealers. It attracts collectors, designers, museum professionals and cultural enthusiasts from around the world.

Photo: Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.