If you were kid going to school in the 60's you learned the box you took to school was not just for carrying your lunch. In a world that seemed so generic it was one of the few things you could take to school which reflected your individuality. It was your chance to make a bold, colorful statement about yourself and your aspirations. Best of all you could get away with it.

Scott Bruce, in his book The Fifties and Sixties Lunch Box explains the psychology of lunch boxes in these terms: "Like the fascination with the finned cars of the fifties, the appeal of lunch boxes was emotional. Between birth and the brown bag, you weren't what you drove but what you carried. Your net worth in the blackboard jungle was broadcast by that box dangling from your fingers. It's not surprising then, that the shelf above the coat rack read like a parking lot."

OK, the box you chose to go to school with was very important. Any wonder so many of us nagged our Moms when they came home from the store with a sissy box or worse still one of those plain red generic boxes.

Space and science fiction related boxes were especially sought after by kids in the mid-60's and had already been popular from the early 1950's. In fact even before the space race truly began, kids were already eating their lunches from the popular Tom Corbett Space Cadet box as far back as 1952. But it wasn't until the 1960's that space related boxes really came into their own. Starting with King Seeley's Astronaut Dome in 1960 right through to Aladdin's Astronauts box from 1969, young galactic travellers could choose from a wide variety of colorful and spacey artwork. Naturally television Sci-Fi was also well represented including Star Trek, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space.

Now if you were fortunate enough to carry a Lost in Space box in 1967, this signalled your allegiance to one of the coolest shows to hit the small screen, a weekly feast of the nastiest monsters, weirdest aliens, and some of the best high tech gear imaginable. A kid with one of these boxes was certainly going to win the space race, get the girl or at the very least command a decent dose of respect from his peers.

The Lost in Space box is an example of a domed metal lunch box. A metal domed box is generally considered more desirable than other formats namely, plastic or metal square boxes. The dome actually serves a function and is not just for looks. A thick wire clasp inside the dome holds the metal thermos.

The Lost in Space box is a truly stunning piece of artwork and is considered by many collectors to be among the most beautiful boxes ever created. The artist responsible was an Italian guy named Nick LoBianco, who was also responsible for several other classic boxes from the era including The Munsters and The Adams Family. The artist signature appears no where on the box itself, a common practice in lunch boxes.

LoBianco succeeded in capturing the rich hues of the way-out Lost in Space stage sets, the eerie rock formations, backdrops and vegetation and the starry night skies. His use of purple, orange, green and blue reflects the intensity of the action depicted. It is hard to imagine the artist did not get his inspiration directly by actually visiting the sets themselves.

Interestingly it was these school yard fights which eventually led to the demise of metal lunch boxes. In the early 1970's a small but well-organized vocal group of Florida mothers campaigned against metal lunch boxes claiming they were a potential "lethal" weapon. They argued kids were hitting each other with them and in some cases causing permanent brain damage. One by one, other states legislated against metal boxes. Ironically enough it was the very violent Rambo box that was the last metal box to made in 1985.

Now if fighting wasn't your game then you can probably blame your mother for scratching your name on your box and thermos. If you were lucky enough to avoid these calamities then your box probably fell prey to the wear & tear of simply carrying it around 9 months of the school year. Even boxes which were only used once or twice will show some kind of wear caused merely by the act of opening and closing the lid. This wear usually appears in the hinge area of the back side where the top section and the bottom section rub against each other causing paint removal. Similar damage is caused at the top of the front side where the bottom section rubs against the internal clasp joints of the top section.

But even the most well cared for box is prone to rust which is a very common problem found in nearly all metal boxes. Rust can occur anywhere on the box but usually happens around the hinge area, joints or where the box has been scratched or damaged. The bottom of the box is a very likely candidate for rust because it usually receives the most wear and scratches from being constantly in contact with a surface.

If you wish to display your box make sure it is not in direct sunlight or in an environment where there are significant temperature and humidity fluctuations. Don't place the box in a room where there is a fireplace or a radiator. A dry, clean environment is preferable with a relative humidity of between 50-55%. If your box is rusted it is probably best kept at about 40% relative humidity. An ideal display temperature would be around 65F (18 C).