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What Did Your Lunch Box Say It always seemed to me as a child that the radio stations would start playing Brian Hyland’s song “Sealed with a Kiss” to signal the end of summer vacation and the beginning of the back to school ritual. The ritual began with a trip to the department store with my parents to pick out appropriate school clothes and ended with me selecting my lunch box. The lunch box selection was my favorite because my parents’
input was not required. Also lunch boxes had all the television
characters, sports figures, musicians and movie stars of the time.
So even though back to school was mostly about conformity, the
lunch box allowed you to express your wild side. My lunch box
featured “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” It sent a message loud
and clear that I favored an action packed life. So how did the face-saving tradition of the lunch box come into being? It all started back in the early 1900s when tobacco companies used packaging containers that, when emptied, were designed to be used as lunch boxes. These early boxes had tobacco advertising illustrations on them. In 1935, a Milwaukee company, Gender Paeschke and Frey, painted a Mickey Mouse on their carry-all lunch box. The carry-all was a box without a thermos that had handles on either side that folded over the top. In 1949 artist Robert O. Burton did a painting of Hop-a-long Cassidy that he sold to Alladin Industries who then printed the pictures on their metal lunch boxes in the fall of 1950 at the start of the school year. The result was phenomenal. They sold 600,000 units that year at $2.39 per unit. Their success prompted competitor American Thermos of Norwith, Conn., to produce and market a fully lithographed tin lunch box and thermos featuring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. The race was on. The success of television fueled the success
of the lunch box industry. Soon, there were several manufacturers
of lunch boxes: Adco Liberty, American Thermos, KST Krueger, OK
Industries and many more.
During this time the lunch box began to evolve from a tobacco box, to a metal domed top box that included a vacuum bottle with glass liner, cork or rubber stopper, to a metal box with a plastic thermos insulated with foam. In addition to television characters, lunch boxes now had sports heroes, musicians, comic book characters and super heroes. And in 1959 vinyl lunch boxes aimed at girls appeared that simulated purses and featured Bobby Soxers and other girl-oriented themes. A turning point in lunch box production occurred in 1971 when a concerned parent group petitioned the Florida legislature to pass a bill banning metal lunch boxes because kids could use them as weapons. Other states adapted similar laws and the production of metal boxes declined. The last metal box is believed to be Rambo made by KST. Production shifted from metal to plastic and vinyl . The 1980s brought GI Joe, A-Team, Pac Man and Dukes Of Hazard
boxes. These were mostly plastic models, but in August 2005, the
Center for Environmental Health discovered that many of the vinyl
boxes contained dangerously high levels of lead. These boxes were
pulled from the shelves and returned in 2006 with certificates
saying they were tested and found to be lead free. Lunch boxes
are produced today in vinyl and plastic but at a fraction of the
amount that they once were. Collecting Lunch Boxes So where can boomers go to find their old favorites? They find
lunch boxes everywhere — Ebay, lunch box collectors websites,
rummage sales, bargain fairs and garage sales. The Smithsonian
had an exhibit called “Taking America To Lunch” on
display at the National Museum of American History in Washington,
DC, and plans to bring the exhibit back in 2008 (the museum is
temporarily closed for renovations, but there is an online
exhibit still up and running). They also have had a smaller
traveling exhibit that may also resume later. And last, there
is a
Lunch Box Museum at the River Market Antique Mall in Columbus,
Georgia (phone: 706-653-6240). What if you’re a pack rat and still have that box and want to sell it? Then, you would be interested to know that a mint condition Super Man lunch box sold at Mastornet Auctions, Inc., for $11,500. So, just remember to research the box, see what they are going for on Ebay, and most important, know the condition. Character lunch boxes that have the highest demand, in fair to poor condition, can be worth $25 to $50 and early models can be worth several hundred dollars. Good through excellent condition boxes can go for higher amounts. The better the condition and the rarer the image, the more your lunch box will be worth. Also, a complete set of box and thermos is worth more due to the rarity of the fragile thermos. So good luck and remember don’t throw anything out!! —Frank For more on lunch boxes, check out these sites: Wikipedia
has an excellent background article on the history of lunch boxes. Bruce E. Johnson’s excellent article on lunch box collecting appears in Country Living Magazine online. The Lunch Box Museum in Columbus, Georgia, has one of the largest collections in the country. The Lunch Box Collector and Lunchboxes.com feature lunch boxes for sale and tips for collectors.
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Metal
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