Lunch Boxes

About Vintage Lunch Boxes

The lunch box as we think of it today was born in 1935. That’s when a Milwaukee, Wisconsin company called Geuder, Paeschke, and Frey licensed the likeness of a new cartoon character named Mickey Mouse for the top of its oblong-shaped “Lunch Kit.” The metal container was sealed at the top with a loop of stiff wire that doubled as a handle.

From that moment on, placing a character of any sort on the side of a lunch box (or lunchbox, as it is often spelled) became the standard for the lunch boxes children toted to school. Before long, the signal a lunch box sent to your peers could mark you as a cool kid or a dork, depending on if your PB&J was packed inside a Mike Mercury’s Supercar Orbital Food Container (Universal, 1962) or a Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box (Aladdin, 1973)...

After blazing the licensed-lunch-box trail in 1935, Disney would go on to produce two-handled picnic-basket-shaped lunch boxes with Owens Illinois in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Many of these featured characters from “Pinocchio” and "Snow White” on red backgrounds.

In the 1950s, ADCO made a Disney lunch box with Mickey on one side and Donald Duck and his mischievous nephews on the other. That 1954 lunch box is highly prized by collectors—Aladdin’s “Mary Poppins” lunch box from 1965, alas, is not. Aladdin’s bright yellow, dome-topped Disney School Bus, however, was on the market from 1961 until at least 1973, selling as many as nine-million units during that profitable period.

Television characters and movie heroes proved perfect fodder for lunch boxes. Aladdin made Hopalong Cassidy lunch boxes throughout the 1950s, while American Thermos made nine styles of Roy Rogers lunch boxes between 1953 and 1957. During the same period, kids were also given space-age choices such as Aladdin’s “Tom Corbett Space Cadet” boxes in red or blue (1952).

The 1960s were even better for space imagery, from the imagined, cartoon future of “The Jetsons” (Aladdin, 1963) to the domed “Star Trek” containers made by Aladdin in 1968—these lunch boxes are much sought-after by Trekkies and lunch-box collectors alike.

Of course, not all lunch boxes were made out of metal. Companies made vinyl lunch boxes, too, which were basically shower curtains wrapped and sealed around pieces of cardboard. Needless to say, these flimsy products did not stand up well to being dragged to and from school every day for a year, which is why finding a vinyl lunch in good condition can take some doing.

Echoing, perhaps, the look of vinyl go-go boots, many vinyl lunch boxes from the 1960s featured pop stars on their outside surfaces. Especially collectible are lunch boxes emblazoned with likenesses of the Monkees (King Seely, 1967) and the Beatles (Air Flite and Standard Plastic Products, 1964; Aladdin, 1965).

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1968 Flying Nun Lunchbox & Thermos Near Mint Condition$255.00 Ends Sunday 7 bids 16 watchers
Vintage Waltons Aladdin Lunchbox & Thermos$246.50 Ends Sunday 13 bids 10 watchers
Rare 1960 Omni Vw Bus Dome Lunch Box ( Near Mint ) $180.00 Ends Saturday 9 bids 10 watchers
1968 Gentle Ben Rare Lunchbox Thermos Mint Unused Wow!!$178.39 Ends Saturday 6 bids 12 watchers
Evel Knievel Double Signed Lunchbox - Superb Condition$169.50 Ends Monday 17 bids 14 watchers
Star Trek 60's Lunchbox&thermos And Gold Key Comics Lot$150.00 Ends Saturday 1 bid 14 watchers
1960 Vw Omni Volkswagon Bus Lunchbox Very Rare Exc+$142.50 Ends Tuesday 3 bids 8 watchers
Excellent 1965 Munsters Lunchbox Tv Monsters Dvd Comic$142.50 Ends Sunday 2 bids 29 watchers
1955 Davy Crockett Walt Disney Metal Lunch Box Kruger. $132.50 Ends in 1 hour 11 bids 27 watchers
Munsters Vintage Metal Lunchbox 1965 Vgc$132.50 Ends Saturday 23 bids 50 watchers
1960 Astronaut Dome Lunchbox Gem Mint Unused With Tags$125.00 Ends Saturday 6 bids 12 watchers
Vintage 1968 Star Trek Dome Lunch Box No Reserve$117.50 Ends Tuesday 5 bids 16 watchers
Lot 6 Kiss Lunch Boxes W/thermoses Complete Set + Cups$111.00 Ends in 3 hours 11 bids 9 watchers
1950 Hopalong Cassidy Lunchbox And Thermos Very Nice$108.00 Ends Saturday 15 bids 33 watchers
1973 Jonathan Seagull Lunchbox Thermos Unused Mint Tag!$104.52 Ends Saturday 7 bids 5 watchers
Vintage Metal Lunchbox The Munsters 1965 $80.00 Ends Saturday 15 bids 38 watchers
1968 Star Trek Lunch Box Very Clean With Original Label$78.00 Ends Sunday 3 bids 13 watchers
Vintage Munsters Lunchbox Large Estate Sale Many Listd$76.65 Ends Sunday 9 bids 25 watchers
Superman 1954 Universal Lunch Box Scarce$76.00 Ends Sunday 2 bids 33 watchers
1969 King-seeley Banana Splits Lunchbox & Thermos$76.00 Ends Sunday 11 bids 17 watchers
Nec Turbografx-16 Ces Promo Swag Set Plastic Lunch Box$67.00 Ends Saturday 4 bids 21 watchers
Near Mint Disney Schoolbus Lunchbox + Themos (1961)$66.65 Ends Sunday 5 bids 19 watchers
1978 Vintage Star Wars Lunchbox Lunch Box And Thermos$66.13 Ends Saturday 12 bids 40 watchers
Vintage Gomer Pyle Lunch Box By Aladdin$56.01 Ends Monday 11 bids 17 watchers
Indian Motorcycle Lunchbox Collectable$55.00 Ends Sunday 3 bids 3 watchers
Vintage 1955 Davy Crockett/kit Carson Lunchbox Rare$54.89 Ends Monday 9 bids 15 watchers
8 Lunch Box Lot - Star Wars, Addams Family, Kung Fu$53.11 Ends Saturday 10 bids 30 watchers
Vintage Alladin Adam 12 Metal Lunch Box$53.00 Ends Saturday 9 bids 9 watchers
Vintage Roy Rogers Lunchbox Excellent Condition!$51.52 Ends Sunday 8 bids 15 watchers
The Beatles Orig 1968 Yellow Submarine Lunchbox$51.00 Ends Sunday 4 bids 8 watchers
Emergency !1973 Aladdin Lunch Box And Thermos Rare Find$51.00 Ends Saturday 8 bids 12 watchers
1973 Scooby Doo Metal Lunchbox With Thermos "nice"$51.00 Ends Sunday 4 bids 9 watchers
Vintage Star Wars Lunchbox & Thermos Near Mint Cond.$51.00 Ends Sunday 7 bids 9 watchers
Roy Rogers And Dale Evans Lunch Box And Thermos$51.00 Ends Saturday 2 bids 7 watchers
1972 Curiosity Shop Vintage Lunchbox Mint Unused Wow!!$50.99 Ends Saturday 2 bids 6 watchers
1972 Gunsmoke Lunchbox W Mint Thermos With Tag$50.00 Ends Sunday 1 bid 6 watchers
Vintage Thermos Metal Dome Lunchbox Space Astronauts$49.99 Ends Sunday 1 bid 3 watchers
Humane Society Dog Image Lunch Pail Biscuit Tin C1910$49.00 Ends Sunday 2 bids 11 watchers
Original Vintage Tamiya Lunchbox Roller$43.00 Ends Sunday 12 bids 33 watchers
Vintage 1973 Thermos Metal Lunchbox Scooby Doo*neat$43.00 Ends Monday 5 bids 6 watchers
Vintage Bionic Woman Metal Lunchbox & Thermos.$43.00 Ends in 19 hours 2 bids 7 watchers
1979 Buck Rogers Lunchbox - W/thermos$42.25 Ends Saturday 3 bids 7 watchers
Vintage ??the Waltons” Metal Lunchbox$40.52 Ends Saturday 12 bids 11 watchers
1974 Evil Knievel Metal Lunch Box And Thermos$39.99 Ends Sunday 1 bid 4 watchers
Hello Kitty 3 Stainless Bento Lunch Box Air Tight W Bag$38.99 Ends in 21 hours 1 bid 3 watchers
1967 Green Hornet Vintage Lunchbox Thermos Excellent Nm$36.35 Ends Sunday 9 bids 23 watchers
Vintage Atom Ant Lunchbox Large Estate Sale Many Listd$36.09 Ends Sunday 4 bids 13 watchers
Vintage Peter Pan Lunchbox Large Estate Sale Many Listd$36.00 Ends Sunday 10 bids 11 watchers
Flying Nun Metal Lunch Box - 1968 - Great Condition$36.00 Ends Saturday 6 bids 16 watchers
Vintage Mining Miners 3 Pc. Oval Lunch Bucket Nr$36.00 Ends Tuesday 2 bids 2 watchers
1960 Rifleman Lunchbox (no Thermos)$35.69 Ends Tuesday 4 bids 9 watchers
Vintage Brady Bunch Lunch Box 1970$35.55 Ends Saturday 4 bids 25 watchers
Rare 1963 Mickey Mouse Club Lunchbox & Thermos$35.00 Ends Saturday 1 bid 3 watchers
Neca -star Trek Metal Lunchbox & Thermos$35.00 Ends Wednesday 1 bid 1 watcher

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