18th Aug, 2026 10:00
Out of the Ordinary
261
A rare suffragette letter-box money box
circa 1913, German,
the lid opening to reveal a spring-loaded painted figure of a suffragette, wearing a green dress and 'Votes' necklace, that emits a squeak, waving a flag inscribed 'Votes for Women', the letter box labelled 'The Pillar Box Mystery’ and 'Militant Souvenir'
8.5cm diameter, 20cm high
Provenance:Purchased by Rose Hobden in 1913 then by descent.
Footnote:A similar money box is illustrated in Diane Atkinson, 'Rise Up Women! The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes', 2019, p.333.
This striking object is far more than a curiosity. It is a vivid reminder of the Suffragette Movement in Britain, the late 19th- and early 20th-century campaign in which women fought for the right to vote. Led by figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, the movement used protest, civil disobedience and hunger strikes to demand political change, helping pave the way for the Representation of the People Act 1918.
For audiences at the time, the symbolism of the pillar box and the suffragette hidden within it would have been immediately understood. In 1911, Emily Wilding Davison, a militant member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), proposed setting fire to pillar boxes as a form of protest, viewing it as an escalation of the movement’s earlier tactic of smashing windows. Later that same year, she was arrested while attempting to set fire to a pillar box in Parliament Street. Other suffragettes soon followed suit, either setting boxes alight or pouring ink, tar and other substances into them to damage the mail. In February 1913, the very year this money box was made, five postmen in Dundee were burned while handling a phosphorus letter bomb addressed to Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. This militant phase of the campaign, including attacks on letter boxes, largely came to an end in 1914 when the WSPU suspended its activities following the outbreak of the First World War.
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Browse the selection of lots in the 'War and Peace' category featured in our 18 August 'Out of the Ordinary' auction.
Sold for £4,000
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Auction: Out of the Ordinary, 18th Aug, 2026
Viewing
VIEWING
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Friday 14 August, 10am - 4pm
Sunday 16 August, 10am - 1pm
Monday 17 August, 10am - 4pm
All lots are, however, extensively illustrated and carry detailed condition reports - see 'Condition report' at the foot of each lot description.
The auction will take place at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE.
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