Did you carry a lunch box as a kid? If you did, do you still have it?
Is it in good condition? Because it may be astonishingly valuable if it's one of these.
Batman is forever. He made his first appearance in "Detective Comics" in 1939,
and was central to the dark and stylish 1989 film that bore his name. But in 1966,
the ironic, campy, and colorful live-action "Batman" TV show became an instant hit,
and Adam West's caped Crusader found his way onto a variety of merchandise.
In 1966, a Batman lunch box depicting Batman and Robin thwarting a criminal thug
was sold at department stores throughout the US. Because the action doesn't stop on just one side,
the reverse features them saving a baby from a burning building.
On eBay in 2021, a well-worn Batman lunch box could be found for under $100,
but for one in great shape and complete with thermos, you can expect to pay around $400.
[Fanfare]
"Lost in Space" was originally a low-budget, ramshackle sci-fi take on an interstellar
"Swiss Family Robinson". And though it's a pretty familiar name today,
it was cancelled by CBS in 1968 after only three seasons of middling ratings.
But upon its initial airing and despite its initial lack of massive popularity, kids could
buy a lunch box depicting the Robinsons' many promised astounding adventures on distant planets.
This isn't some hinged rectangular box, but a pail with two fully illustrated scenes.
The front features the Robinsons in a rover vehicle, and the other
shows Professor John Robinson saving wife Maureen and son Will from a tentacled plant monster...
while the Robot looks on and does nothing. It included a thermos, too,
depicting the kind of sci-fi rockets that would bring humans to the moon.
This lunch box oozes nostalgia for '60s entertainment as well as the space race,
and a box in great condition can sell for between $450 and $520.
The animated series "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends"
was set up like a sketch comedy show, with plenty of recurring characters,
but perhaps none were more popular than Dudley Do-Right. An incredibly dumb and
bumbling member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Dudley was forever on the hunt for the
villainous Snidely Whiplash and constantly mooning over his true love, Nell Fenwick.
Dudley Do-Right broke out of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" to star on his very own lunch box.
This 1962 treasure features Dudley singing a tune with Nell along with his horse, named Horse, whom
Dudley famously rode backward. Dudley Do-Right carries a lot of nostalgic weight for lunchbox
collectors. Add to this the fact that only a few show up at auction every year, and the winning
bid on this lunch box in a 2021 eBay auction, despite some rust and noticeable wear, was $700.
Past examples have gone over $1000, but worn-out boxes can go for as low as $200.
Network primetime television could be a pretty tame place in the late 60s and early '70s,
but some shows certainly skewed toward an older audience. For example, "Hogan's Heroes," which
ran from 1965 to 1971, was about crafty Allied prisoners stuck in a World War II prisoner-of-war
camp. The villains were literally Nazis, but bumbling and ineffectual ones. A period-set,
inappropriate comedy likely didn't attract many children,
but this lunch box, designed to look like the prisoner barracks, was certainly appealing.
It featured the nefarious Colonel Klink, American Colonel Robert Hogan,
and other characters going about their business on the show in an elaborately illustrated scene.
"Hogan's Heroes" wasn't the most kid-friendly thing on television in the early '70s,
but that lack of appeal to kids meant that the original merchandise made to celebrate the show
became increasingly rare over the decades. In 2021, "Hogan's Heroes" lunch boxes sold
on eBay at prices ranging from $177 to $485, mostly in the $250 range. One particularly
well-preserved item escaped its owner for a whopping $765. It's not a million dollars, but…
"Eh. Who needs a million dollars? Just a lot of trouble."
Back in the early 20th century, two studios were known for their brands : Disney,
with its endless string of cartoons and kids' movies, and Universal,
which produced some of the most enduring, and highly regarded monster movies of all time.
Collectively known as "Universal Monsters," these scary screen icons, primarily based on classic
literature, included Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Phantom of the Opera, the Mummy,
the Creature, the Invisible Man, and the Wolfman. Portrayed on-screen by the likes of Bela Lugosi,
Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr. from 1920s through the 1950s,
some of those characters appeared on this metal lunch box, first produced in 1979.
The Universal Movie Monsters lunch box frequently appears on eBay,
and in 2021, a collector could find one on eBay for just over $100.
One in excellent shape sold on eBay for over $811 — not only was the Thermos still there,
and in great shape, but the box still had the tags left by the manufacturer.
As one of the most ambitiously branded rock bands on the planet, the logo and campy horror
imagery associated with the '70s arena rockers Kiss has appeared on hundreds of products,
including shirts, shoes, toys, and even a comic book printed using their actual
blood. It works, because each of the band's four members take on the persona, costume,
and makeup of a fantasy sci-fi fighter, like the Starchild, Space Ace, the Catman, and the Demon.
When Kiss was in its '70s heyday and wearing makeup and being real-life comic book characters,
they were also pretty popular with children, which made a Kiss lunch box a no-brainer for
manufacturer Alcon, and a must-have for all junior members of the Kiss Army.
Dating to 1977, one model from Alcon featured a photo of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley,
and Peter Criss, in full costume and makeup and striking poses on one side, and performing on
stage on the other. In 2021, various versions of this rock n' roll relic sold on eBay,
from $165 to $299 to $850. Why so much? That one included a Kiss thermos with an instruction
booklet on its correct use. We're sure Kiss is still laughing all the way to the bank.
"Crying! Spend all that money!"
There aren't too many characters as old as Mickey Mouse that are still around and popular today.
After a star-making turn in the 1928 cartoon "Steamboat Willie," the squeaky-voiced rodent
has appeared in dozens of shorts and multiple TV series. But more than that, he served as an
internationally recognizable mascot of the Disney brand of family entertainment. A picture of Mickey
is synonymous with high quality, kid-friendly content, and that extends to decades worth of
merchandise, from "Mouse Ear" hats purchased at Disney theme parks, to Mickey-themed lunch boxes.
Back in the 1950s, lunch boxes were already catching the eyes of kids at five-and-dimes.
Depicting a wagon occupied by Disney co-stars Huey, Dewey, and Louie and pulled by Pluto
the dog, the box shows a grinning Mickey running behind it, on his way to school.
On the reverse, Donald Duck enjoys a picnic with his nephews. In 2021, an eBay bidder could land
a rusty model for $20, or ones in substantially better shape for somewhere in the $125 to $150
range. With a matching metal thermos, some examples have gone as high as $799.
"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" first aired in 1969, featuring a talking dog and four
young people travelling around in a van called "The Mystery Machine,"
unmasking crooked land developers who stage believable supernatural phenomena.
A strange concept, but because the franchise is so consistently visible with new versions
of the classic show, remnants of the show's early days grow more valuable every year.
One of the most popular Scooby-Doo-related items, both then and now, is a King-Seeley Thermos-made
lunch box from 1973, depicting Scooby and Shaggy in their natural element — running away in fear
from a cliffside Headless Horseman. The reverse depicts the whole gang,
and the accompanying drink holder features a portrait of a much calmer Shaggy and Scooby.
The 2021 eBay price range for this lunch box in yellow trim with an
included green thermos ranged from $102 up to $250. However,
a pristine box, with the manufacturer's tags still attached, brought in $995,
and a variation with orange trim and thermos is also available to collectors with deep pockets.
As beauty pageants are increasingly considered old-fashioned, the annual Miss America contest
calls itself a scholarship contest nowadays. It's nowhere near the massively popular cultural event
it was in the mid-20th century, when the young woman crowned Miss America was often launched
into celebrity, such as actor Lee Meriwether and singer Vanessa Williams. The whole Miss
America brand was such a big deal that it could generate merchandise like lunch boxes.
Countless future Miss America contestants could carry around a pink lunch box bearing the words
"Miss America" and the image of a nameless young beauty queen, carrying a bouquet,
adorned with a sash, tiara, and long gloves. Though unspecified, the illustrated Miss
America bears a striking resemblance to Miss America 1972, Laurie Lea Schaefer.
It's not too hard to find one of these Miss America lunch boxes from 1972.
In 2021 alone, they've sold for as little as $15, with several in the $20 to $50 range.
One seller made a fortune when they sold their Miss America lunch box for just over $1,000.
It was so costly and valuable because it was in near-mint condition
and still had the thermos instruction booklet and unused name-tag from nearly 50 years ago.
Branded lunch boxes didn't always feature a character or some kind of TV or movie property;
they could also depict a popular car or vehicle, loved by kids and adults alike.
German automaker Volkswagen, known in the mid-20th century for the Beetle and the Bus, turned the
latter into a lunch box. Handed out as a premium at VW dealerships in the 1960s, it was made by
Omni Graphics and came with a two-tone thermos, decorated with a VW logo-badge on the lid.
Numerous people of a certain age look back fondly on the VW Bus,
as well as anything that looks like a VW Bus, creating a market for authentic '60s memorabilia,
like lunch boxes. In 2021, a Volkswagen Bus lunchbox, missing the thermos,
sold on eBay for $250. A complete set was substantially more expensive, at $1,191.
"Star Trek," now a mega-franchise, began humbly as a charming, brainy, allegorical sci-fi series
that aired to critical acclaim but low ratings for three seasons on NBC in the late 1960s.
It became a cultural phenomenon slowly, thanks to millions discovering it in reruns, and the
appearance of Trek-centric fan conventions, the first of their kind. That slow burn of popularity
caused most anything associated with the original series, or what poorly-selling rarities and relics
remained, into extremely valuable treasures to hardcore fans who wanted a piece of the original.
"Star Trek!"
In 1968, Aladdin produced a metal "Star Trek" lunch box which featured a large,
fantastical image of the Starship Enterprise on one side, with artistic renderings of Spock and
Captain Kirk on the other side. Final selling price in one particular 2021 eBay auction:
$1,513, though most complete sets don't break $1000. One without the thermos moved on eBay in
2021 for a still hefty $1,250, but most incomplete sets top out at around $600.
As the first major American superhero and DC Comics' flagship character,
Superman has been consistently popular since his introduction in print in 1938. Since then,
the "Man of Steel" has been the subject of a hit radio show, numerous blockbuster films,
and in the 1950s, the syndicated television series "Adventures of Superman." Starring George Reeves
as Superman, the fantastical series was extremely favorable with children, as were tie-in products.
The show was such a hit that countless school-age Baby Boomers had to get their hands on a Superman
lunch box, beginning in 1954. Made out of aluminum and manufactured by ADCO, one side features a
comic book-style Superman flying up to fight a giant robot with laser-beam eyes. On the reverse,
some of Superman's generic greatest hits: punching through a brick wall, busting through chains,
and preventing a plane from crashing. Just like Superman, the prices paid for that lunch box are
out of this world. In 2021, examples of this box in good condition have sold from $1,100 to $1,350.
Among their many innovations, the Beatles were one of the first widely marketed rock
acts in history. Decades before New Kids on the Block bed sheets or NSYNC Trapper Keepers,
companies made a bundle selling cheap stuff to kids and teens bearing the faces of the
Fab Four in their early, mop-top years. Aladdin Industries, a Nashville-based lunch box company,
cashed in on the Beatles fad and put out a line of lunch boxes in 1965.
Many wound up used to smithereens or rusted away into nothingness, but the ones that did survive
are valuable because of their rarity, and how they strike up a nostalgia for a bygone era.
One side of the box features the open-mouthed faces of the four Beatles, and the other
imagines them mid-performance. Sure, these world-famous musicians don't quite look right,
but that doesn't affect the value of the lunchbox. Called one of the rarest and most popular lunch
boxes on the planet by the "Warman's Lunch Boxes Field Guide," these Beatles lunch boxes,
complete with thermos, sold at prices ranging from $200 to $1,250 in 2021.
One seller, who purported theirs to be in better condition than the same one
sitting in the Smithsonian, unloaded theirs for $1,475. Far better than The Monkees ever did.
"Eew! You like the Monkees?"
"What do we got here?"
"I'm interested in selling my Jetsons lunch box."
In 1962, "The Jetsons" debuted on ABC, taking place in the space-age future,
with elevated homes, flying cars, domestic robots, and extreme automation.
But the show wasn't a hit on par with its stone-age counterpart, "The Flintstones",
and was canceled after a single season. It stands to reason that the stuff associated
with an unpopular, short-lived show didn't sell a ton, sending what few
"Jetsons" items that did make it out of the store into basements, closets, and garages.
But later, "The Jetsons" became a cult hit due to reruns and was revived for syndication in
the 1980s, reawakening interest in both new and well-preserved treasures bearing the likenesses
of George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy Jetson, their talking dog Astro, and their robot maid Rosie.
A vintage "Jetsons" lunch box would become especially desirable. Similar to the old lunch
boxes used by construction workers and laborers, this one is in a futuristic style, and includes a
thermos. One of the most collector-coveted vintage lunch boxes, a few flew off of eBay in 2021,
all earning their sellers big stacks of cash. Complete sets of "Jetsons" lunch
boxes and their thermoses blasted off to buyers' homes for prices ranging from $750 all the way
up to $1,700. Even one in poor condition, missing the thermos, can fetch over $400.
Classic metal lunch boxes are often not in great condition today, so a lunch box that has defied
the odds makes it all the more valuable. Take this one depicting the characters from the campy,
low-budget, Saturday morning action adventure series "Land of the Lost."
The show ran for three seasons in the 1970s, which made for a mountain of
"Land of the Lost" lunch boxes floating around. Depending on the level of wear,
surviving examples have sold on eBay in 2021 for anywhere from $57 to $112. Boxes in excellent,
near-perfect condition commanded much bigger prices; one sold for $1,400, and another for
$2,275.00 because it still had its tags, indicating almost no use at all.
The older a piece of pop cultural ephemera, the more valuable it can get.
That's because time, rust, neglect, the urge to clean out basements,
attics, garages and forgotten and abandoned storage units
means objects disappear at an alarming rate. Plastic lunch boxes from the '80s are usually less
valuable than metal ones from the '50s because they were produced in much larger quantities and
because plastic sticks around forever. So a metal lunch box that's still relatively well-preserved,
bearing the images of a long-forgotten pop cultural phenomenon, can only be valuable.
In 2021, an eBay seller offered up a slightly scratched, barely rusted vintage box from 1957
adorned with the image of a smiling, beret-wearing, plaid-skinned elephant
named "Toppie." The box, also decorated with red balloons and a white bubble pattern on the sides,
included a matching metal thermos in even better shape, bearing the image of the same
happy elephant. Toppie appeared on numerous products that faded from memory — promotional
items made by Kroger Supermarkets, redeemable by stamp book collecting.
Nobody in the '50s probably thought these would be worth much, but they were wrong. Not too many
Toppie lunch boxes show up on eBay, but in 2021 a latter-day reproduction sold for about $127.
The real, vintage item, however, was much more valuable, auctioned online for an astounding
$6,500. Collectors have called this the pinnacle of all lunch box collecting, and it's thought
that about a dozen exist today. Even those in bad condition can fetch as high as $4000.
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