Customer Reviews

Lunch Boxes, Metal & Thermoses

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 218 page, 5 x 8" softbound book is ideal for taking with you when you shop for these collectibles. It's packed with more than 500 full color, sharp pictures of every type of lunch box and thermos imagineable. Great photos ! There's not too much informative copy included, but there's great depth of coverage. At the back of the book there's an Index, Price Guide, and Inventory section that is very useful. A Must Have for lunch box collectors.

I just started to collect and enjoy lunch boxes this year. This guide has been very helpful in my hunt. I'm on a very tight budget and been able to make purchases of lunch boxes without paying too much for the items, as was the case of my first purchase of a lunch box. Of course I did not have the book. I ended up paying $70 for a "Magic Kingdom" lunchbox. After getting the book a couple of weeks later, it was probably a bit too much to pay. But I learned. Also with the book I've made it a challange to myself to find lunch boxes that are not in the book. It's a lot fun just to search for lunch boxes and having Mr. Aikins book is like having a friend along for the hunt.

This is a must have for the Lunch box collector.It has all the Metal Lunch boxes pictured and a checklist/price guide too! I never go to a flea market with out it .

I had borrowed this book and my dog chewed about 20 pages off the back. I was able to piece it all back together, but felt I needed to replace it with one in better shape. That is the reason I ordered the book. For myself, I would have ordered one that was more current.

The amateurish publishing quality is distracting. The pictures are handy, as both sides of the box & thermos are usually shown. But if you want ANY sense of history, facts, or color...anything besides arbitrary price schemes...you should look elsewhere. ...

This book was not helpful to me at all, theer are definitely better lunchbox books out there. Don't waste your money on this one.

Believe me, once you start looking at this book, you just can't put it down! I never knew they made so many metal lunchboxes throughout the years. Oh, I had a few when I was a kid in the late 50s and I'll always remember my mom not letting me have the matching optional thermos. She was so afraid I would be careless and drop it, breaking the fragile glass liner. I was a responsible 9 yr old after all. I always envied a kid who had a Roy Rogers dome chuckwagon lunchbox. That was so cool! Even when the lunchbox was empty, somehow it retained the odor of all the peanut butter and jam sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, that I carried in it every day. And the metallic sounds in the cafeteria of all the lunchboxes being opened and after, being latched up again. This book is bound to have the box you had as a kid so I recommend it not only for nostalgic reasons, but as an invaluable source and guide for the lunchbox collector.

Even if you don't collect old, vintage lunchboxes (I don't), once you pick up this book, well, you can't put it down. I never realized just how many lunchboxes were produced over the years. Just looking at the boxes reminds me of when I was a kid in the late 50s and my mother would never buy the optional matching Thermos. No, she was afraid I would eventually drop it and break the glass liner. Still, I did have a few metal lunchboxes throughout my early school years. Although I don't recall the litho, I can never forget the smell of peanut butter and jam sandwiches wrapped in wax paper when I opened up my box. I swear the smell permeated the metal giving it a permanent odor! And the sound at lunchtime of all the lunchboxes in the cafeteria being unlatched and flipped opened and later snapped shut. If only I had kept mine. If only!

This book is great as a collectors guide or just to look through to bring back fond memories. Over 400 lunchboxes and thermoses are shown. The price guide in the back is a good reference source for new collectors (like myself) listing both prices for the items and the rarity as well. Even though I've looked through it many times I still find myself picking it up again!