Street furniture

For instance, people speak very disrespectfully in an official manner when referring to public waste bins, parking barriers, flagpoles, and park benches. But a TNT Post mailbox where one can deposit outgoing mail also counts as street furniture. Formerly a color of red (PMS 485), but this color is increasingly disappearing to make way for the orange of TNT Post. What happened to the old letterboxes? Usually, they went back to the postal depot, but there are also examples that now adorn the gardens and terraces of private individuals. Sometimes beautifully restored, but often painted in a different color to avoid confusion with the TNT letterbox. The letterbox is actually almost as old as the letter itself. In the Netherlands, the first letterbox is believed to have been placed at the Paalhuis in Amsterdam. In April 1616, two closed letterboxes were hung on the wall of the Paalhuis, one bearing the coat of arms of Hoorn and the other the coat of arms of Enkhuizen. Merchants passing by could drop their letters there. The Paalknecht supervised the letterboxes. Unfortunately, no letterbox can be seen in the painting by Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten, which is in the possession of the Rijksmuseum. Letterboxes are also a popular subject to depict on stamps. We all know the 5-guilder block, issued on October 15, 1999, to commemorate the fact that it was then 200 years since all postal organizations in the Netherlands were nationalized. The beautiful mailbox from 1850, which defined the streetscape for a very long time, adorns the block. This mailbox can still be admired in person in only a few places in the Netherlands. But other countries also issued stamps featuring images of mailboxes. Such as the Netherlands Antilles with the 'famous' mailbox that looked so much like the one in the Netherlands. Mailboxes come in all shapes and sizes. The Netherlands Antilles dedicated a total of eight stamps to them. Mailboxes from Europe, such as Great Britain and Ireland, but also from the most unexpected places, such as Dubai, Mexico, Nepal, Uruguay, and the United States. Denmark issued a stamp featuring the typically shaped mailbox, as did Finland, with a more square model. This Finnish model is also depicted as a cartoon on a small block. On the mailbox, in two languages, confirming that it is indeed a mailbox... The Thai postal service did not sit idly by either, issuing a series of four stamps featuring images of various mailboxes. Usually, the letterbox is at the center of the stamp, but sometimes it is also a prop that belongs in a story. Like the stamp of Great Britain issued at Christmas. Or to show that the British postal service is everywhere, as evidenced by the series featuring a letterbox built into a wall, in the countryside and in the city. Sometimes you have to look closely to spot the mailbox on the stamp! On the middle stamp, the mailbox is placed at the beginning of the low wall of the bridge. Who would ever have posted a letter or card there? Not a house in sight, just nature and a red postal van. The mailbox, an object that everyone encounters almost daily, yet passes by thoughtlessly. But an attribute that is indispensable for getting a letter or card to its destination quickly, even outside of post office opening hours. A great subject to start a collection with. Stamps? An inexhaustible source of possibilities!