The soapbox in the picture

A few words on the image at the start of The Soapbox (and pictured below) because I cannot ask materialists to not talk a little about an object when presented with one. Unfortunately, though, I have very little to say about this one; maybe someone else will have something to add.

The picture is of an Ivory Soap box taken from a blog Frog Goes to Market, maintained by Ellie Campbell. She tells me she has no information about the age origin of this particular soapbox.

Any soapbox experts out there? Any good articles on soapboxes? Collections? Anyone have other soapbox images they would like to see used? Or perhaps most perplexing....anyone know how soapboxes came to the designated item to stand on when pontificating in public? 

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