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While I'm not proud to admit it today, it's true that I used to use my lunchbox to bowl over bullies on the grade school playground. I'd take aim with my "Hong Kong Phooey" cartoon lunchbox, swing my arm as if sending it down an alley, and launch it across the ice toward the unsuspecting feet of my lunchtime nemesis.

The lunchbox was scarred, but I was amply armed. Those are the little tricks you learn when you take cold instead of hot lunch at school.

Today, I have new respect for lunchboxes. If I had known how much "Hong Kong Phooey" might be worth today, I probably would have tattled instead of taking my anger out on a No. 1 super guy (who was really a dog).

Taking your lunch to school or to work in a brown paper bag may be lighter, but the bag won't last. Lunchboxes keep your food from getting squashed. They come with handles that make them easier to hold. They are durable. And they are collectors' items that, if treated gently, might even earn you some lunch money.

If you are stumped on a holiday gift idea, let lunchboxes come to the rescue. One of my favorite gifts was a Janis Joplin lunchbox (yeah, just go ahead and try to take another little piece of my lunch now, baby!). Or you can use the lunchbox as gift wrap.

At Lunchboxes.com you'll find a one-stop lunchbox shop. My favorite area is the vintage gallery where you can browse your childhood lunchbox favorites from the "Knight Rider" (now worth $175.35), to a 1979 "Buck Rogers" box (worth $192.50), and even a 1982 "E.T." box ($280.25).

On eBay, you can bid on a 1954 "Superman" lunchbox listed at $1,250. One reference for pricing is the "Encyclopedia Guide of Lunchboxes."

An online lunchbox site, Lunch Box Pad, in association with Amazon.com, offers a list of books for the lunchbox collector. Thermoses open a whole other world of lunchbox accessories and come in regular, wide-mouth and industrial varieties.

Like album covers, lunchboxes are art. They capture a moment in pop culture history. (Remember when Cyndi Lauper got a Campus Queen lunchbox from a boyfriend in the video for "Time after Time?")

Marilyn Manson is a lunchbox collector and has written two songs about them, including "There's a Devil in My Lunchbox." (Sample lyric: "He's right over there. Next to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And the banana.")

Betty Page and the Grateful Dead had lunchboxes. KISS had a lunchbox line. The Beatles have as many lunchbox styles as they do albums. Enjoy a "Beggar's Banquet" with a Rolling Stones lunchbox. Cheech and Chong have a lunchbox capable of carrying all your munchies.

Lunchboxes come in all shapes and sizes. The "I Dream of Jeannie" box is actually domed. There's even a Chinese Take-Out lunchbox in the shape of a fried-rice carryout container with handle.

New this lunching season are Harry Potter lunchboxes and a soft one devoted to cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants.

For decades, lunchboxes have been a form of personal expression and a haven for bologna sandwiches. Historically, Aladdin was a primary lunchbox manufacture of metal lunchboxes; they began producing them in Nashville in 1950. Their first hit box was "Hopalong Cassidy." Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger appeared on many boxes between 1953 and 1957.

A "Fat Albert" lunchbox came out in 1973 and was the first lunchbox to feature black children. Today, a mint condition "Fat Albert" box -- with Thermos -- will sell for about $140.

The golden age of lunchboxes reigned from the 1950s into the 1970s. Metal lunchboxes enjoyed amazing popularity until a group of Florida mothers in the 1970s protested the metal boxes, calling them potential weapons.

But not to fear. Plastic and vinyl lunchboxes stepped up to the plate. And in time, even metal lunchboxes are making a comeback, ready to slide across the ice, if need be.

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