Lunchbox History and Facts!!

Metal lunchboxes were produced until 1985. See, in the early '70s a small but well-organized group of back-ass Florida mothers began a campaign aginst the metal lunchboxes, essentially claming they were a potential "lethal" weapon. They argued that school kids were whacking each other with them and causing permanent damage. One by one, other states bought into this concept, as far-fetched as it sounds. Oddly enough, it was the very violent Rambo box that was the last metal box to be produced. I'm sure that is a trivia question somewhere.

Aladdin was the primary manufacturer of metal lunchboxes (as well as Thermos). They began in 1950 in Nashville. There first "hit" box was Hopalong Cassidy. 1957 full lithe version pictured above.(I have one for sale) A decal was added to a metal box, a bottle included in the "kit" and sales skyrocketed. In 1962 Aladdin came up with the idea to emboss pictures on the front and rear of the box. Pre-1965 Thermos was actually called American Can. Then they became King Seely Thermos and were so popular that their trademark name has become the generic term for a vacuum bottle (kind of like Kleenex, sort of.)

Some metal lunchboxes have reached exhorbitant "collector's prices." But the problem is there is no record of how many boxes of each style were produced. It is all done by speculation. If any prices are mentioned below, it refers to the assigned value in the Encyclopedia Guide of Lunchboxes, published in 1992 by Allen Woodall and Sean Brickell. It doesn't mean I agree with them. They do however only state prices for mint condition boxes, complete with thremos.

Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and trigger appeared on several boxes between 1953 and 1957. In fact Trigger had his own box in 1956. The western theme is where boxes began and there were many that followed. Just to name a few; Gene Autry, Paladin, Lawman, Gunsmoke, Bonanza and Zorro.
The Jetsons box is a dome, uh, duh, note the shape. Anyway, its a winner. It is very rare and is valued at around $1400, but has sold for as much as three thousand. It is from 1963, long before the movie that featured Tiffany, my pop star dream-machine, and her sparkling voice as the voice of daughter Judy.

 

 

 

The Partridge Family box came out in 1971 The family is shown singing on one side and they made Laurie P. much too small. She's like Danny's size. The other side is the famed bus. Two thermos' were available. A plastic one which kinda sucked and a metal one that had a wrap-around image of the P-family jammin' in the garage/studio. Created by Nick LoBianco, an Italian guy, who also designed Lost in Space, the Munsters, Lancelot Link, and the Adams family.

 

 

 

It's About TimeThis dome box was produced by alladin in 1968. It is a very colorful and has tons of action. The only problem was that the show got cancelled before the box hit the market. Oops! Alladin also did this in 1978 with a show entitled "240 Robert" A rescue show that pretty much bit the big weenie and was cancelled. The box was never mass produced and is now very rare.
Breaker, breaker, good buddy, 10-4. 18 Wheeler was a real anomaly for lunch boxes. I mean, who thought to create a box about CB's? It arrived in 1978, didn't last more than a year and helped turn truckers into national heroes. Note the little kid on the back side, riding shot gun with his ol' poppa, thermos in the background. For some reason, you rarely find these boxes in good shape, they are always thrashed.
Hey Hey Hey, it's Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. From 1973, the Fat Albert collectibles are enjoying a big resurgence in popularity right now. The box was the first to feature black children and sold well, even with teenagers who had moved on to brown-baggin it. It really is a pretty damn fine box, I mean check out Fat Albert riding his homemade "skatebaord," belly side down.
Kung Fu was also created by Nick LoBianco who did the P-Family, Munsters and Flipper. David Carradine's character taught the school children how to meditate on peaceful subjects rather than pick fight on the playground. A great learning tool for children. It's from 1974 and commands about eighty bucks.
The Sid and Marty Kroftt Boxes are among my favorite boxes. Land of the Lost is one of the best. From 1975, this prehistoric kids show was put together so cheaply that you can see hands pouring a bucket of water into the creek on one of the old episodes. This box in this photo looks a litle faded. This one had vibrant greens and our favorite caveman, Chakka. Others include Bugaloos, H.R. Puffnstuff, Liddsville and Kroft Supershow (remember Dr. Srinker and Electro Woman & Dyna Girl?). So far I have collected all of them except the Bugaloos. I have found one but the guy wants too much for it.
1978 was the year they came out with Skateboarder. Small kids and teens take the hills on their skinnys, there are even a couple of girls on this box! Course, they're falling down, but hey, they're here. John Henry created this box and his other crowing glory while freelancing at Aladdin was the Evil Kneivel box! It goes for anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars.
Auto Race from 1967 was kinda boring. I mean there is no action displayed here. But on the flip side, which you can't see in this picture, is a magnetic game board that you could sort of race cars on. It came with a spinner and rules to the game. Sells for around fifty now.
Star Trek is one of the most collectible boxes because it appeals to not only lunch box collectors but Trekkie people as well. Probably one of the finest boxes ever produced due to the insane all-around graphics, the vivid colors, the letter-perfect rendition of Captain Kirk. The borders are imaginitive and the whole thing just screams "eat from me!" It was made in 1967 and commands about six-hundred dollars.
Scooby Doo, where are you? The graphics on this one are spectacular for a seventies box. (1973, to be exact.) It came with a choice of yellow border or orange border, but neither is worth more than the other. Watch Scooby and Shaggy run from the headless horseman!
The Munsters box is an early one, from 1965 and features intense graphics of Herman shoveling dirt, little Eddie with his werewolf doll and the family going out for a ride. But the thermos was the best-- vivid green with all the Munster's heads floating along. The book says they go for around two hundred bucks and that isn't that much of an overestimate. Darn.

This page was last revised on 10/26/98

 

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