I'm sorting things out and found an interesting box.
Normal late 1920s/early 1930s boxes have panels like this 814 Boxcar box:
One face has young Larry and two text blocks.
The other large face has a transformer, and maybe something else depending on the year. This has a type T and a 126 station. I'd date this box from 1926-28 maybe even later.
Here's an interesting box with a different pair of large faces:
One face has a layout and advertises the "new Lionel Freight cars." Those 200 series cars were introduced in 1926. The 381 was introduced in 1928, the state cars came out in 1929 and this shows 418/419/490 cars so it has to be 1928.
The other side shows a taken apart loco that looks like a 402 and advertises Bild-A-loco. The Bild-A-Locos were introduced in 1928 two years after the 200 series cars and was only cataloged in 1928 and 29.
So this box should be from 1928 or 1929.
Nope. It's for a 520 searchlight car which was introduced in 1931.
So here's a box that advertises cars that were introduced FIVE YEARS EARLIER as NEW on one side, and on the other side advertises trains that are no longer available.
Hmmm.
I don't have a bunch of 800 and 200 series boxes to compare with these as I sold them with the collection.
Here's another pair of boxes I found:
These are from an 18 Pullman and a 190 Observation. My memory says these two boxes came with a Mohave 380. That set was offered in 1923 and 24.
The boxes say 18 under the maker's mark, but I bet that is the box number for the 18 Pullman.
