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For lunch box collectors, or "boxers," 1985 is a year they will forever mourn. That was the year of the last metal school box.

It featured Rambo and ended an era succeeded by plastic or soft-side lunch boxes. They're nice for the kids but not as valuable to collectors, said Sean Brickell, co-author of "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Metal Lunch Boxes."

Aladdin produced only four 1981 Spiderman lunch box kits, making it the most valued among boxers, said Brickell, of Virginia Beach, Va.

"For lunch box collectors, it's the Holy Grail. There's no value on it. There's just one in a collection now. It's unique in its standing," he said.

Brickell's list of most valuable school lunch boxes includes 240-Robert, based on the short-lived television firefighter-rescue series.

Another highly desired box is Toppie, a promotional box in Ohio featuring an elephant that originally was available only through trading stamps.

Brickell said less than 10 kits of Spiderman, 240-Robert and Toppie are known to exist. Pricing the boxes can be confusing. Brickell noted that some boxers collect only certain types of boxes such as Disney, Star Trek or the space genre.

Desirability, condition and what Brickell calls a "coolness factor" figure into a box's value.

"You could have had great art on lunch box that was in great condition but if it was a show or movie that was a dud, then it's not worth much. That's why the Jetsons box is so valuable. It combines all these things," he said.

Among the mass-produced lunch boxes, a mint condition 1963 Jetsons would bring about $2,000. The most expensive lunch box routinely for sale is the 1960 Home Town Airport, worth about $2,500.

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