Postbox pin typical of post boxes in London
Red Post Boxes can be seen all around London and the rest of the UK. The most common post box seen in 
London is the red Pillar Box, a free-standing post box. The picture above is a lapel pin of the iconic British post box. To the right is a photo of one of them. One can actually determine a great deal about the box by what is on it. A source for interpreting the graphics on post boxes is found at http://projectbritain.com/london/postboxes.html.
I found and acquired this pin in London. Aside from occasionally running into a post box when watching the fierce London traffic, the main thing I think about when I see a box relates to a former colleague, Dane Gordon. During the Blitz in London during WWII, Dane as a young teenager was sent by his mother to post a letter and to go to a store to make a few purchases. He posted the letter at the corner post box, went on to the store, and then when he was returning to his home found, instead of a post box, a huge bomb crater where the box had stood. He came so close to being a victim.
Dane went on to enlist in the British Navy and served in the North Pacific. Later he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, joined the philosophy faculty at Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology, served a few years as dean of the College of Liberal Arts there, set up a symposium on philosophy in post-communist Eastern Europe, and continued being a respected teacher, and, to me, a friend. I miss him now having moved hundreds of miles away.
This pin is posted in honor of Dane. Perhaps some day King George Alexander Louis will have his symbols on future post boxes in London. Actually, I have two of them, one just a bit smaller than the other
Location: 05-D3, D4
Lapel Pin Collection 