Are these the same as pillar boxes?

No. The category covers wooden table-top, desk and hall boxes made for domestic letters and writing materials. A handful of wall-hung and free-standing posting boxes do appear, and a cast-iron wall post box has turned up once across the whole record on Sellingantiques.

What wood are they usually made from?

Oak is the defining timber, present in a third of all titles, and it's what the classic Victorian hall or country-house box is made of. Figured and exotic woods form the second population: walnut in seventeen titles, rosewood in twelve, coromandel in nine, with burr walnut, satinwood, olivewood and macassar ebony recurring in the caskets.

Why is stationery spelled two ways?

Dealers simply spell it both ways. Stationery appears in thirty-four titles, stationary in twenty-eight, almost equal frequency. Both mean the same thing: a desk box for paper and envelopes. Searching one spelling shows you roughly half of what's listed.

What does Answered & Unanswered mean?

It's a two-compartment correspondence box, dividing letters already dealt with from those still waiting on a reply. The labels are usually applied in brass on the lid or the divisions, and the phrase recurs alongside Post and Delivery on oak-and-brass examples.

How old are most of them?

The dealer-supplied dates span 1800 to 1930, though much of the dating is loose: Victorian is used forty-two times and a bare 19th Century thirty-five times. Where decades are given, they gather in the 1880s to 1900s, with the 1860s close behind. Regency at one end and the 1920s and 30s at the other are thin.

How often do letter boxes come up for sale?

About twenty-four come to market in a year on Sellingantiques. Eighty-one different dealers have listed one, so no single specialist owns the category. Stationery cabinets and desk boxes are stronger in current stock, while country-house and hall boxes are concentrated in the archive.

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Antique Letter Boxes

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Wooden boxes and desk cabinets made to hold letters and writing materials at home, from lockable hall boxes for the day's post to drop-front stationery cabinets that kept paper, envelopes and stamps in order.