Vintage Lunch Boxes May Carry Memories

Collecting is a great way to remember your childhood, so it is not surprising that old, metal lunch boxes have become popular collectibles.

The idea of a tin pail or box to hold a lunch is not new.

In the late 1800s, products like tobacco were sold in tin containers with handles so they could be reused as lunch boxes. The boxes were decorated with ads for the product. In those days, many men took a lunch with them to their work in factories, fields or offices.

The tradition of the lunch box continued in the 1900s. In 1949, it is said, the makers of Aladdin vacuum bottles thought it might boost lunch box sales if they put a picture of a popular TV star on the box and the bottle. They added a decal of Hopalong Cassidy, and it sold so well that others followed.

Roy Rogers, another TV cowboy, had a lithographed steel lunch box by 1953. More than 2 1/2 million were sold. The steel boxes remained popular in the 1950s and ‘60s. Hundreds of boxes picturing TV, movie and comic characters, and even popular toys, were made.

In the 1970s, the Florida legislature passed a law outlawing metal boxes because they were dangerous--some were used to bash school classmates. After that, lunch boxes were made of hard plastic or vinyl. They are still decorated with popular images, but they have lost some of their glamour. Metal boxes in excellent condition sell for hundreds of dollars each.

*

Question: I have a teapot that my grandfather always called the “Chinese pewter” pot. Does the name mean something special?

*

Answer: Pewter has been made in China since 200 BC. By the 18th century, tea caddies were often decorated with engraving. Many pewter pieces, including trays, teapots, candlesticks, inkstands and vases, were made for export to Europe. Many closely resembled European-made pewter. The Chinese- and European-inspired pewter pieces are still being made in Asia. Collectors call most of these pieces “Chinese pewter.” It should be noted that, in recent years, some have been made in India, Korea, Taiwan and other countries.

*

Q I have a miniature teddy bear, 3 3/4 inches tall. The arms and legs are movable, and the head swivels. Opening the bear’s body reveals a mirror on one side and pressed powder on the other. The bear’s head can be removed to show a small lipstick tube. It is at least 60 years old. Do you know when it was made and what it’s worth?

*

A Your compact dates from the 1920s. Heinrich Muller and his partner, Heinrich Schreyer, formed a toy company in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1912. The company used the trade name Schuco. It became a well-known manufacturer of movable teddy bears and other mechanical novelties. The U.S. patent for your compact was granted to Muller on Nov. 28, 1928. Schuco made the compact in the form of either a teddy bear or a monkey. Both are rare. Your bear compact would sell for $400 to $600.

*

Q I have a large, ceramic platter, gravy boat and sugar and creamer, trimmed in a blue floral pattern with gold flecks. The blue factory mark on the bottom includes the word “Nelson” on a banner over the word “semi-porcelain,” a drawing of a crown and twisted rope and the words “New Wharf Pottery, England.” When were these dishes made?

*

A Your dishes were made between 1890 and 1894 at the New Wharf Pottery in Burslem, Staffordshire, England. They are examples of a type of china called “flow blue.” The dark-blue color of the pattern “flows” from the design onto the white dish, smearing the edges of the blue decoration. The floral pattern of your dishes is called “Nelson.”

*

Q I have a set of bentwood chairs and want to buy a table to match. Did anyone make bentwood tables?

*

A The best-known bentwood furniture was made by Michael Thonet of Vienna, Austria, after 1836. His company is still working. The first items were chairs. By 1853 they were making table legs using another patented process. Thonet Brothers made furniture for hotels, cafes, offices, invalids and homes. In 1941, an American Thonet branch was opened and pieces were made in the United States. Thonet had patents on the first bentwood chairs, but his patent expired by 1869, so other companies made similar bentwood furniture. The tables usually had round tops made of solid wood and pedestal-like clusters of bentwood legs.

For a listing of helpful books and publications, include a self-addressed, stamped (55 cents) envelope to Kovels, Los Angeles Times, King Features Syndicate, 235 E. 45th St., New York, NY 10017.

Current Prices

Current prices are recorded from antique shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

* Home Packed Beef can label, woodcut picture of a Hereford cow, black and white, New York, c.1910, 12 by 4 inches, $10.

* Star-Rite hair dryer, chrome, 1930s, $55.

* Duck call, H. C. Hansen Broadbill, painted dark green, light-green mouth, 1930s, 5 1/4 inches, $85.

* Depression glass pitcher, Tea Room pattern, pink, 64 oz., $155.

* Aesthetic Revival footstool, ebonized, gilt trim, silk damask upholstery, 1870, $230.

* Cathedral pickle bottle, blue-green, applied mouth, open bubbles, c. 1865, 9 1/4 inches, $235.

* Daisy Duck candy container, long bill, wearing red dress, black hat, German, 6 1/2 inches, $240.

* Griswold dutch oven No. 11, tite-top, raised letters, $315.

* Staffordshire stirrup cup, Greyhound head, pale mustard coat, black-edged rim, 1825, 7 inches, $1,310.

* Bye-Lo baby, bisque head, cotton body, blue sleep eyes, Grace Putnam, c.1923, 10 inches, $1,550.