Post Office Pillar Box, Boundary Street
Well, I know that there are a few of these about but not sure how many (less than 5?). Anyway, here is a quickie from Boundary Street – the street that gets its Chinese and English names from the fact that it was where the original border was between British held Kowloon and Mainland China.
Many people will be aware that HK post boxes were basically the same as UK ones until the handover – bright red with many displaying a Royal Cypher.
Approaching the imminent handover all the boxes were painted green and many of the old UK-style pillar boxes were ripped out altogether and replaced by simple green square boxes.
However, for whatever reason some older boxes still exist unmolested (other than the green paint that is) and it’s nice to stumble across them every so often.
The Elizabeth II Regina cypher can still be found in many rural (or ex-rural) locations – such as this one I found last year – and even the odd George one can be found if you look closely, but finding a full-on proper old pillar box is still a rare treat. Let’s hope this one stays – it’s on the corner of Boundary St and La Salle Rd (and now I’ve written that expect it to be imminently ripped out and replaced by a modern boring square one).
July 3, 2012 at 10:20 pm
There is a GR box on Cheung Chau, the small rectangular kind.
July 3, 2012 at 11:21 pm
Hi Emilie – many thanks for that – any links for your blog?
July 4, 2012 at 10:47 pm
there is no photo of it on the blog – I guess I’d have to wait till I got two separate GR letterboxes before ‘posting’ about it, to keep with the self-imposed ‘two photo’ principle of most of my posts – but there’s an ER letterbox on the latest Time Out photo page if you look carefully.
July 4, 2012 at 11:20 pm
i’ll keep an eye out in case i stumble across one
June 30, 2012 at 5:43 am
Have you seen any boxes pre dating Queen Elizabeth II around Hong Kong ? If not, I wonder what became of them.
June 30, 2012 at 9:52 am
I can’t remember seeing one personally but I know there are a few GR cyphers out there. I think if they are still in good condition then they are left alone.
June 29, 2012 at 6:03 am
It`s like home from home!
June 29, 2012 at 9:31 am
indeed. I did wonder if they cast these locally but the shape of this seems to match the ones in the UK and I expect they were made in the UK (or whereever) and shipped over…possibly