This domed steel lunch was manufactured by Aladdin Industries in 1963. The box is red, blue and yellow with images of Bozo the Clown and circus scenes. Bozo the Clown was first created in 1946, and became a popular children’s television show as it was franchised at stations all over the country. A Bozo the Clown television show ran from 1961-2001, first as Bozo’s Circus, then as The Bozo Show, and finally as The Bozo Super Sunday Show.
This top-opening square metal lunch box was made by Aladdin Industries in 1958. It has a metal snap for hinged lid and a hinged peach plastic handle. The lunch box has a peach and beige faux basket weave pattern lithographed on exterior, while the interior has white butterfly pattern on peach field.
This tin lunch box was made in the 1940s , and has a metal snap for hinged lid and a collapsible silver handle. There is a plain blue and gray design on the exterior.
This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. It has a white plastic snap for a hinged lid and a white collapsible, plastic handle. The box has a light blue background and white rim, and features of colorful drawings of flowers on the lid, back and sides.
This black wooden lunch box was made by Thermos in 1916. It has a hinged lid with two metal snaps and a leather handle. There are two silver, metal lunch trays mounted on hinged extenders inside.
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1963. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible red, plastic handle. The front side of the box shows a cross section of the Mercury manned space flight module, showing John Glenn operating the capsule. The reverse side shows the Atlas rocket launching from the space pad. These images were lifted from National Geographic, and Thermos received a cease and desist and stopped production. As such, these boxes are rather rare.
This steel lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1957. It features a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible metal handle, and the exterior design simulates a brown leather suitcase.
This steel lunch box was manufactured by the Ohio Art Company in1957. It features a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible red, plastic handle. The exterior design is a red, brown and yellow plaid design.
This aluminum metal, dome lunch box was made by Thermos in the 1940s. The box has a steel handle, two snap closures, and vent holes. The box has a star stamped on the side of the lid. This box is typical of the metal domed boxes that were used before licensed boxes became commonplace.
This tin-plated iron lunch box was patented in 1871 by Charles C. Moore. The box folds in flat on itself. The lunch box has a black and red plaid exterior, and the top is adorned with the text “Moore’s Patented Folding Lunch Box.” About three inches tall in its box form; it collapses down to less than half an inch when folded.
This yellow metal lunch box was made by Thermos in 1968. It has a hinged lid and a single silver snap. The box features colorful scenes of baseball players in action on the lid and sides of the lunch box. The back has a magnetic playing field, and a scoreboard and playing instructions are located on the bottom. The inside has two "Spin the Arrow" baseball game packets, each with four magnetic markers to use as runners in the game.
This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. The lunch box has a blue rim and animated scenes of space life and travel on all sides. Due to the success of NASA and the popularity of Star Wars and Star Trek, companies tried to use space images to sell their products. This is an example of Thermos using generic “UFO” images to sell their lunch boxes.
This hard red plastic lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1991. It has a hinged handle and closing snap for hinged lid. The lunch box features an image of Steve Urkel from the show Family Matters on lid. Family Matters ran from 1989-1997 on ABC and 1997-1998 on CBS, mainly part of ABC’s TGIF block of programming. With his catchphrase “Did I do that?” and distinctive laugh, Urkel became the breakout star of the show and is the star of this box.
This vinyl-clad, cardboard-core lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1967. It has a hinged white plastic handle and metal snap for lid. The box is lavender, and features images of Twiggy modeling several outfits on the lid, along with head shot that has her iconic look. Twiggy was one of the first international supermodels, so famous that she even had her own Barbie doll! This lunch box was just one of many pieces of memorabilia that bore Twiggy’s image at the height of her fame.
This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1957. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, metal handle. The box has a blue background, with an image of Roy Roger’s horse Trigger bucking on an open plain with mountains in the background.