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First grade is pretty big stuff. You've got to be cool, right down to your soggy cheese sandwich. Malachi Vaughn, 6, of Marietta, is determined that when he steps into his own first-grade classroom later this month, a Spiderman lunchbox will be under his arm.

It's cool.

He and his mother, Amanda Vaughn, are searching for just the right lunchbox to hold his favorite lunch at Washington Elementary School.

"Spiderman is my favorite hero," Vaughn said with a grin.

Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo, Yu Gi Oh, Barbie, Hello Kitty, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, Care Bears, X-Men, Tigger, Britney Spears, Batman, Minnie and Mickey, are among the favorites of today's students.

As it turns out, a school lunchbox, seemingly the most mundane of back-to-school fare, is pretty special after all.

You may not remember your teacher's name, the kid who sat next to you in third grade, or what you ate for lunch, but you will remember your favorite lunch box.

"I think I had a Care Bears I really liked a lot," Amanda Vaughn said.

Experts say you can tell immediately how old someone is by his or her favorite lunchbox.

Superman, Howdy Doody, G.I. Joe, Batman, The Jetsons, Dick Tracy, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Trigger, Robin Hood, Flipper, Lassie, Little House on the Prairie, The Brady Bunch, Fat Albert, Holly Hobbie, The Beatles, Space Cadet, Barbie, Twiggy, Peanuts, The Munsters, Star Wars - all stir nostalgia and bring back warm memories of childhood.

Today, these and more, colorful metal lunchboxes cost major bucks.

"I can't keep them in here. Whenever we get them, they go out in less than a week," Barbara Gammon, owner of the Tin Rabbit Antiques, 204 Front St., said of vintage lunchboxes.

There's one box in her shop now, a 1974 Evel Knievel. In excellent condition, it would go for $100. The tag on this one is $25.

The first known licensed character lunchbox, Mickey Mouse, came along in 1935, when it was printed on the lid of a tin carryall. The first licensed TV character was Hopalong Cassidy in 1950. In 1953, the cowboy acting and singing duo of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans came out with a lunchbox.

Vinyl bags were introduced in 1962.

It all began with tobacco tins at the turn of the last century. Steel, square containers, filled with tobacco, once empty, were converted to lunch-boxes.

By 1930, there were oval lunch pails and colorful tins, like a candy box, that were used to carry a light lunch. Ohio Art was an early manufacturer.

About 1950, Alladin Industries began manufacturing lunchboxes.

More than 500 different kinds of vintage lunchboxes are available to collectors today, according to "Schroeder's Antique Price Guide."

A 1967 Green Hornet goes for $200, a 1963 Jetsons' dome-top, for $700, and Wonder Woman, from 1977, for $225.

But metal lunchboxes were destined for the rust bucket.

In 1984, a group of Florida parents got together and convinced everybody else, including manufacturers, to trash metal boxes and go "soft sided" or plastic instead.

Too many lunch-line bullies were hammering fellow classmates with the sharp-edged boxes, too many dented skulls, they said.

Bonk. The metal lunchbox was history.

Enter canvas, plastics, and collectors, pouring into the void.

By 1990, the Wall Street Journal advised potential investors that lunch boxes, particularly the early metals, were a hot investment.

Collector Marc Fultz, of Athens, was always ahead of the game.

"I thought my wife was going to leave me. I bought a Hogan's Heroes lunchbox for $30," Fultz said of his early days of collecting. "I sold it on the West Coast within months for $225."

Fultz, who began his career with antique quilts, was on his way.

During years of collecting, Fultz has owned more than 5,000 lunchboxes, and now has about 1,500, give or take a few Twinkies.

"My favorite is The Jetsons because I grew up with it," he said. "It used to be a very sought-after box, but too many showed up."

Today's market in lunchboxes is "soft" this expert said, but will come back around again one day. It has a lot to do with the general economy.

"I used to run hundreds on e-bay, but I only have two on today," he said. "It will come back. People are trying to put food on their table instead of collectible lunchboxes on the shelf."

But "mint" condition boxes are always in demand, he said.

"The money today is in the pristine, mint-only store stock condition," Fultz said. "Mint keeps moving, with people who have money."

A 1954 Superman metal lunchbox recently sold at auction for $12,000.

Generic lunch boxes, flowers, animals, patterns don't do as well as TV and cartoon characters, popular movies, Western themes, Disney, and space, among others.

"You have no personality if you had a plaid lunchbox," he said. "You can tell how old a person is by his or her lunchbox. Sometimes I feel like a carnival act. I can always tell a person's age."

The best place to find vintage lunchboxes is online, but there are treasures that show up at yard sales and flea markets, even at Rinky Dinks, in Marietta.

If you are willing to look.

"One box I bought out of the old Red Barn Flea Market near Columbus," he said. "It was one of the first vinyls, the Bobbysoxer. He had $30 on it and I offered $25."

Two weeks later Fultz called a major collector in Atlanta, told him what he had, and sold it for $1,250.

"People collect because they make a connection, a memory," Fultz said. "Lunchboxes are also very displayable. They are uniform size and look nice on shelves."

Lunchboxes also hold food - a sandwich, apple, chocolate cookie, maybe a juice box, to get a child through the school day.

"My kids would get a new one every year," Gammon said of lunch boxes. "It was like buying a bookbag or notebook. About every lunchbox had a Thermos."

The thing about a Thermos bottle then was the interior was insulated with a glass material.

"They hit the ground a lot," Gammon said. "Back then, 40 years ago, it was hard to find an Alladin (plastic) refill. You had to pour out the old broken pieces and put a new interior in."

Today's Thermos has no glass. Good news for Vaughn. Her son loves his thermos. Whatever lunchbox he finally gets, it better have a Thermos.

It will hold his all-time favorite lunch food - soup.

If you are thinking lunchbox collecting is somewhat strange and "low budget," stuff, remember the highly sought-after 1954 Superman lunch box ($12,000) and keep your eyes open.

That's a pile of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Tips on buying old lunch boxes online

• Know what you are getting; as questions ahead of time.
  
• A picture is worth a thousand words - from all angles.
  
• Make sure you know all the flaws.
  
• Most descriptions are brief. Get all the information you can. Ask questions.
  
• Mint condition boxes should show no signs of wear, the best possible condition. No scratches, dings, dents, or dimples.
  
• Metal boxes made before 1980 are very collectible. This is before plastic became popular.
  
• Thermos bottles, too, are collectibles. The lunch box with the matching thermos is good.
  
• Lunch box values are based on age, rarity, and condition.
  
• Save all e-mail correspondence. If you have the seller's own words, it will be harder for them to dispute any information given.

• What: Lunch Box Museum.
  
• Where: Columbus, Ga.
  
• Owner: Allen Woodall.
  
• Collection: 3,500 boxes, including Woodall's personal favorites, Twiggy, Donny & Marie, Junior Nurse, and Soupy Sales.
  
• Other special exhibits: Baby Boomer Grammar School Heaven, Disco Fever boxes, Land of The Giants.

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