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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Arthur Reeder

SHOCKING: Experience i ve spent decades collecting over 260 postboxes - You Need To See This

Portrait of Arthur Reeder, who collects postboxes and owns the Isle of Wight Postal Museum, pictured at the museum which is in his garden at home in Newport, The Isle of Wight. February 2026
‘I’m not allowed to have a favourite’: Arthur Reeder with his collection in the Isle of Wight. All photographs: Peter Flude/The Guardian Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian

Back in 1994, I went to north Wales to see the miniature steam trains – I was a fan of railways. On a platform at Rhyl station, I noticed the painted outline of a postbox – it was all that remained of one that had stood there since the late 1800s.

It turns out it had been vandalised, set alight and chucked in a skip. I asked the station manager if I could see it and he jokingly said: “Give me 20 quid and you can take it away with you.”

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