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Cool and Collected

Collecting pop culture toys, comics, and collectibles collections

October 19, 2012 By 5 Comments

KONGTOBER 19 — 1977 King Kong Lunchbox by Thermos

Remember the days when every kid at school had a metal lunchbox? The cool kids were lugging this one around…1976 king kong lunch box thermos

This King Kong lunchbox by Thermos was released in 1977 to coincide with the media blitz that accompanied the release of the movie. They sure got their money’s worth with the John Berkey artwork, as it appears on all sorts of merchandise.

1976 king kong lunch box thermos

This image of Kong on Skull Island was used on some of the movie posters, but it’s nowhere near as iconic as the art of Kong straddling the twin towers.

1976 king kong lunch box thermos

1976 king kong lunch box thermos

1976 king kong lunch box thermos

Apparently, the artist, John Berkey, painted several versions of King Kong, but the art department wanted to make sure that the ape looked the same in all instances, so they literally cut and pasted the twin tower face onto the other paintings, like the one of Kong in the jungle and this one of Kong grabbing a subway train.

1976 king kong lunch box thermos

This lunchbox is one of the newer additions to my collection. These are pretty common and can be bought for as low as $20 in good shape, but when I saw this one with the stickers inside, I knew I had to have it. The box might not be in the best shape, but the thought of a kid in the cafeteria opening this up every lunch hour just brings a smile to my face.

—

“Don’t be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.” All month long, I will be showing off King Kong collectibles from my personal collection in a series called KONGTOBER, so if you’re a fan of King Kong and movie monsters, I think you’re going to like what you see.

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Toys

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. shezcrafti says

    October 19, 2012 at 10:49 am

    I love old lunchboxes. The design & colors of this one are really nice; I especially like the side art where Kong is scaling the tower; awesome perspective.

    Reply
  2. Michael May says

    October 19, 2012 at 11:16 am

    Totally had that one!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      October 19, 2012 at 11:18 am

      I knew you were one of the cool kids, Michael! 😉

      Reply
  3. The Goodwill Geek says

    October 20, 2012 at 8:54 pm

    Very cool! I am terrified that if I were ever to buy a vintage lunchbox, I would go completely off the deep end collecting them and never have room in my home ever again.

    Reply
  4. Larry says

    March 9, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    Had it loved it.

    Reply

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