6982 East 45th Street

Another great mailbox from David Aber: a covered wagon on a pedestal made of horseshoes.

He took the photo on or before February 21st.

5741 East 34th Street

Last week's entry showed a mailbox on a tree trunk. Here's another house — this one on a much different pedestal

7272 East Freestone Drive

The homeowner made this obviously-handcrafted mailbox.

That's an enlarged view of the house.

David Aber took the photo on or before February 21st.

6050 East 33rd Street

This mailbox has a gorgeous mosaic pedestal covered with dragonflies.

Above is an enlarged view of the top side in the first photo.

Now for the other side…

Thanks to David Aber for these photos. He took them on or before the day he emailed me: February 21st.

9621 East Myra Drive

David Aber says that the bird on the box is “probably a Northern Cardinal that has faded over time.
It still has the black mask that distinguishes it from the Pyrrhuloxia.” (If you're curious, try an Image search on Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Google.)

He flew by on February 26th… actually, he wrote, “I was taking photos of an 8 ft. tall armored knight and almost walked into this mailbox.”

Thanks, as always, Dave.

2437 East Beverly Drive

This is the third of three mailboxes in this corner of Beverly near Tucson Boulevard. Last week's entry, the second of three, showed the same style as this box: two posts with cut-out designs in between.

I passed through this part of the block on February 23rd.

2431 East Beverly Drive

Here's the second of three mailboxes in this corner of a block near Tucson Boulevard. Last week's entry showed a mailbox across the street with the same kind of design: cutouts between two posts.

I found this bunch of boxes on February 23rd.

2432(?) East Beverly Drive

Neither the house nor the mailbox seemed to have the house number. It's the house across the street from 2431. Google Maps says the number is 2432.

There are a lot of mailboxes around town with cut-out metal figures between two posts. But each one has seemed to have different figures. (If you know why this is, please leave a comment below. You can remain anonymous.) This is the first of three in this part of the block.

I was there on February 23rd.

2638 East 21st Street

A handsome but mostly standard-looking mailbox, right? Well, here's the other side:

The flag covers the “8” in the house number. So they've added a second “8” on top of the flag. In all my years of finding mailboxes, I've never seen that obvious trick.

I rolled by (I'm finally back on my dusty bicycle!) February 23rd.

2227 East Kleindale Road

On February 13th, David Aber sent this (almost standard-looking!) mailbox. What makes it unique is a chimney of what looks like real pebbles.

4520 East Glenn Street

Here's a weathered mailbox with red chiles hanging between its two posts. (I grew up in New Mexico, so: Yum!)

I found it on February 10th.

3333 North Silverbell Road

Just by chance, the previous mailbox — which I found on October 22nd (2017) — had rabbits on top and bottom. This one is topped with bighorn sheep (on top of bighorn sheep…) and has a saguaro along the post:

At the left-hand edge of the photo above is the house number in what looks a plate of steel cut with a welding torch:

I found this surprise two hours after the first one.

2991 West Basil Place

Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits…

OK: I'll resist saying — with my punny (or worse) humor — that I “hopped by” on October 22, 2017. (Whoops, too late! :)

3000 West Basil Place

A mailbox painted in a petroglyph style:

I rocked by (sorry :) on October 22, 2017.

530 North San Rafael Avenue

October 21, 2017. Someone loves cats.

4319 East Flower Street

Although these probably aren't the most beautiful mailboxes on Flower Street, they do have a nice floral-type design on the post…

I found them on August 30, 2017.

6562 East Calle Dened

David Aber insists that he doesn't go “fishing for” creative mailboxes and only takes photos when he happens to spot one.

Well, Dave, I think that may be a fish story. :) How do you come up with ones like this??

Let's reel this one in :-P a bit closer and brighten up the Bass a bit with my favorite free photo editor GIMP:

On December 4, 2017, he wrote: “This Largemouth Bass swallowed a mailbox… The fisherman left the weight scale in its mouth. The cover is obviously hand made and very well done.”

We'll go fishin' for more mailboxes in 2018. Happy New Year!

8372 East Balfour Place

Here's our last mailbox for 2017. David Aber found it on April 13th and wrote: “I seem to have a talent for finding mailboxes that look like covered wagons. The one I found at 8372 E. Balfour Pl. is my third.” I think I've found a few, but — after five years of mailboxes (I posted the first in December, 2012) — I've lost track.

Happy 2018! (Many more mailboxes to come!)

6860 and 6870 Placita Caribe

It seems to me that artistic mailboxes come in groups. Some blocks have several; the next blocks might have none. On September 14th, David Aber spotted these two boxes next door to each other.

Let's look at the distant one (on house number 6870) first. Most of it is fairly plain, but there's a beaded butterfly near the top of the shorter post. I'll zoom in digitally so you can see it better:

Here's a view of the box on 6860, more toward the front:

A lot of mailboxes are mounted on camshafts, but this is a perfect match for a '57 Bel Air pickup truck.

Mailbox #500: 6725 East Rosewood Circle

It's hard for me to believe that I've been sharing photos of mailboxes for five years — since December, 2012. The five hundredth mailbox is one that mailbox-hunter extraordinaire David Aber found on September 14, 2017. He calls it “Alpine Chalet”:

Here's to the next 500!

30 East Jacinto Street

On October 8th, David Aber roared past this box on top of a V8 engine in front of Sports & Imports Auto Repair. “For obvious reasons,” he told me, “I call it the V8 Box.”

I cropped the photo above to show just the box:

5212 East Rosewood Street

David Aber calls this the Lizard Box. His photo is from April 28, 2017.

Near 29th & Old Spanish Trail

David Aber took and sent these photos on May 1st, 2017. He wrote:

…
They aren’t true mailboxes any more. They’ve been repurposed. I doubt the Postmaster General would be very happy to find out their new use.
…
The first Doggiebox (1, 2 & 3) was found in the 1800 Block of S. Sunburst Dr. The second Doggiebox (6, 7 & 8) was found in the 1500 Block of S. Desert Vista Dr. When you see the photos you’ll understand why there isn't an address. Both are in the same neighborhood, so I’m guessing they were put there by the Neighborhood Association.

10610 East Camino Quince

David Aber found this Fire Truck mailbox. He wrote that "It’s a bit hard to tell for certain, but I think it … is a mailbox cover. Looks like it was made with a mix of hand-crafting and used parts."

I like the way that the grille seems to open for mail. It makes me wonder what USPS letter carriers think when they make a delivery to a creative box like this… I guess it's obvious where to put the mail?

His photos are from May 1, 2017. Thanks, as always, Dave!

2021 South Sunburst Drive

It's a great box, but what is it?

David Aber, who snapped this photo on May 1, 2017, wrote "The Housebox (or, it could be a church or a schoolhouse?)" and that "it’s a mailbox cover and appears to me to be hand-crafted." (By "mailbox cover", we mean, typically, a printed layer of plastic that's put over the mailbox — vs. paint.) We don't aim to show stand-alone mailbox covers that are probably ordered from a factory — or other standard mailboxes— just Tucson originals.

10619 East Placita Los Reyes

Here's a closeup of one side of this hand-painted box:

Next, the other side. I notice two things about it. First, the scene on the mailbox is painted over the flag. Most mailboxes have a flag that doesn't blend in with the scene. Second, the house number is written on the plastic newspaper tube underneath the box. The number doesn't seem to be anywhere else (including on the other side of the tube — which I didn't show because it looks like, well, a plastic tube):

David Aber snapped these on May 1, 2017.

7557 East 27th Street

As the expression goes: When pigs have wings…

Maybe the Silva family knows something we don't? :)

David Aber flew by this gem (and, lucky for us, he stopped!) on April 26th.