So you want to collect cereal boxes for fun but don't know where to start? Easy. Go to your local supermarket. Flake makers spew out beautiful new Cereal Box Designs every quarter. Buy what you like, eat the cereal, and save the empty boxes. Boxes like the Boston Garden Commemorative Wheaties Cereal Box are offered only in one region so you might pick up a few extras to trade with collectors in other parts of the solar system. In a year or two of active swapping, you'll be up to your eyeballs in hot flake containers (and probably presented with an ultimatum to chose between your collection or your spouse).
If you're collecting with an eye to resale, reach for the stars. In real estate, there's an old adage"location, location, location." In cereal box collecting, it's "character, character, character." Characters are the famous movie, TV, or cartoon personalitiescalled Grain Gods - like Cap'n Crunch, Waldo, Tony the Tiger, and Michael Jordan, whom cereal makers splash across package fronts to catch our attention. "Cerealebrities" have charisma which rubs off on boxes as higher values. Even among recent offerings, the difference in price between a "Plain Jane" Wheaties cereal box and one sweating with an athlete like Larry Bird or Joe Montana may be as much as $25.00 to $50.00.
How much you collect breakfast relics from the 50s, '60s, and 70s depends on your budget. Cereal boxes sporting the Lone Ranger, Linus the Lionhearted, Quake, or the Beatles can command hundreds of dollars. If you don't wish to spend that much, collect the plainer, non-character boxes like Corn Flakes, Shredded Wheat, Toasties, or Cheerios. These boxes can be had for as little as $5.00 to $20.00. The type faces, colors, and swirling breakfast scenes reflect , your childhood tablescape almost as well as their flashier star cousins-and at a fraction of the cost.
Like time-traveling robots, specialty collectors hunt down items with a common theme, regardless of .he decade. Sports fans kill for Wheaties and other sports-related cereal boxes featuring sluggers, tennis pros, and famous passers from the '30s to last year's Superbowl. Cartoon aficionados bounce to Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, and Roger Rabbit boxes. Vinyl-covered Dick Clark, Playboys, Monkees, and Archies boxes cling to rock 'n bowl lovers. Premium collectors drool over packages advertising hot prizes like the Gabby Hayes shooting cannon ring or , Cap'n Crunch comic books. Still others horde Disney, Western, space, or short-lived brands, or they may forsake cereal boxes altogether in favor of magazine ads, plastic rings, commemorative dishes, or die-cut standees. The cereal universe is so enormous, its riches will satisfy nearly every collecting taste, however bizarre or pathetic. Dogs lovers, for example, have more than 50 cereal boxes to choose from including offers for trading cards, claw clippers, and a trusty pooper-scooper.
More on where to look for Old Cereal Boxes
