Before Irish independence in 1922 the GPO ran the postal service in the whole island of Ireland. An early move by the Irish Free State was to paint all letter boxes green, a very public way of asserting the new administration’s authority. Some boxes also had the Royal cipher and GPO insignia removed, but many pre-1922 boxes survived unscathed in An Post’s emerald livery. The Irish Republic offers rich rewards for the letter box hunter.