People are only just beginning to realize what the color of their mailbox means – as rare shades are spotted by stunned local residents

PEOPLE are just beginning to realize what the color of their mailbox means – after a rare hue was discovered by stunned local residents.

There are only two special color letterboxes in the UK, which thousands of locals pass unnoticed every day.

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The sky blue post box, denoting a special airmail postal service, can only be found outside Windsor Castle and on Liverpool Road in Manchester.

Several red postboxes were also painted royal blue in 2019 to celebrate England hosting the Cricket World Cup, and others were given a medium blue color to thank NHS staff during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The sky-blue mailbox in Manchester, monogrammed by George VI, was originally red – but was repainted in 1983 to commemorate the opening of the city’s Air and Space Museum.

A plaque on the back reads: ‘This crate is painted blue to represent the special ‘airmail’ crates placed in Britain between 1930 and 1938.

“It not only commemorates the Post’s long association with British aviation, but also our support for the Manchester Aerospace Museum.”

Letterbox expert Robert Cole told the Manchester Evening News: “Manchester One is one of the better known.

“It’s a really, really nice piece of mailbox history. You can imagine who posted things through them and what kind of lives they had.

“The Post Office put up mailboxes in 1862, but in the 1920s this exciting thing called an airplane came along.

“You could charge more for airmail so it was really an opportunity.

“They put up special boxes and had special vans that were sky blue and a huge advertising campaign from that time.”

Corinne Galloway of the Postal Museum added: “By the late 1930s there was a change in the way mail was processed.

“It became more work to have a separate function. They announced the end of blue mailboxes in 1938 and they went out in 1939.

“They’re pretty rare there. There have only ever been 300 and most have been removed or painted over in red.”

People are also only just becoming aware of the meaning of the GR and ER symbols printed on mailboxes.

Brits were ‘amazed’ after finding out what post box bottoms really look like.