Lunchboxes originated as tin containers with wire handles for blue-collar workers in the late 1800s. Pictorial children's lunchboxes emerged with Disney's 1935 Mickey Mouse metal lunch "kit" and Aladdin Industries' 1950 Hopalong Cassidy square lunchbox that included a thermos. Aladdin's Hopalong Cassidy box sold 50,000 units initially and reached 600,000 by year-end 1950. Metal pictorial lunchboxes became widespread across ages and featured licensed imagery from superheroes, television stars, and films such as Batman, Superman, Flipper, "Star Wars", and Popeye. Collectors prize these items for their nostalgic artwork and pay high prices for vintage examples.
Companies began making tin lunchboxes with wire handles for blue-collar workers in the late 1800s. And though Disney's Mickey Mouse lunchbox technically has it beat by 15 years, Aladdin Industries is often credited for having introduced the first pictorial lunchbox for kids. Featuring Hopalong Cassidy, a fictional cowboy hero popular during the early to mid-1900s, it was an earlier style of a square-shaped lunchbox with a single clasp and handle that included a thermos.
In the years that followed, metal lunchboxes became common among people of all ages, with the pictorial ones especially popular among children. These nostalgic time capsules served as promotional canvases for superheroes like Batman and Superman, television stars like Flipper the Dolphin, and classic films like "Star Wars" and "Popeye." The artwork on these antique treasures is as timeless as any on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. That's why collectors are willing to spend a lot of cash to acquire them.
Allen Woodall, the owner of The Lunch Box Museum located in Columbus, Georgia, calls this "the holy grail" of lunchboxes, per History. Released in 1935 and originally referred to as a metal lunch "kit" rather than "box," it was the first to feature a licensed cartoon character marketed to children. Disney's titular mascot, Mickey Mouse, along with others from the 1928 "Steamboat Willie" film, romp around a colorful backdrop of bushes, butterflies, and birds.
Collection
[
|
...
]