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Payphone Story – Global History of Payphones and Phone Booths

British GPO Coin Collecting Box No. 1A

The GPO Coin Collecting Box No. 1A was an early British post-payment coin telephone mechanism introduced after the 1912 GPO takeover of the National Telephone Company. Manufactured by L. M. Ericsson, it accepted penny coins, used operator-controlled charging, and featured an enlarged burglar-resistant cash compartment.

Name	Coin Collecting Box No. 1A
Date	C. 1912
Manufacturer	Manufactured by the Swedish company L. M. Ericsson. These coin collecting boxes are in the international Ericsson catalogues of the time so possibly used outside the UK. The National Telephone Company was a UK operator before telephone operations were nationalised in 1912.

Development of the Coin Collecting Box No. 1A

The British GPO Coin Collecting Box No. 1A was one of the earliest standardised public coin-collecting telephone mechanisms used by the British General Post Office (GPO) during the early twentieth century. Introduced around the time of the 1912 takeover of the National Telephone Company by the GPO, the design evolved from the earlier Coin Collecting Box No. 1, originally manufactured by the Swedish company L. M. Ericsson. Ericsson catalogues of 1902 identified the mechanism as product number 441.

The No. 1A was a post-payment coin box, meaning callers first spoke to the operator and only inserted coins when instructed. Users deposited one penny coins individually into the slot and turned a small disc or handle after each coin. This activated a buzzer circuit that allowed the operator to count the number of pennies inserted remotely. Inside the box, a Veeder cyclic meter recorded the total number of coins collected for accounting purposes.

The original Coin Box No. 1 incorporated only a small internal cash compartment. Because large pre-decimal British pennies quickly filled the receptacle, the improved No. 1A added a larger armoured cash box mounted beneath the main mechanism. This separate burglar-resistant compartment was bolted to a heavy timber baseboard and secured using carriage bolts and a GPO lock.

Constructed from painted black tinplate, the No. 1A was relatively lightweight, although additional armoured cash safes were often added for security. The front carried ornate gold decoration, the royal crest, and detailed operating instructions warning users to insert “only one penny at a time.” Earlier examples bore the wording “Post Office Telegraphs,” while later versions displayed “General Post Office.” Many surviving units also reveal their National Telephone Company origins beneath later GPO enamel overlays.