There are two major variations of the earliest Crosman pellet containers. There is the Crosman Brothers box and also the Crosman Hi Powered Pneumatic box. There are at least two color variations of the Hi Powered versions. Any of these are worth $100 plus to serious collectors. The early boxes are, for some reason, much appreciated by collectors of .22 rimfire boxes.
The earliest "Crosman" pellet container is the "Universal" tin. These were made by the inventor of the Crosman rifle William McLean. The only way we were able to determine that these were made by McLean is that the container carries the home address of McLean. These pre-date the Crosman Brother boxes. See The Crosman Rifle 1923-1950 for pictures and some more info.
Another rarity is the .21 caliber cardboard tube that are green. These were for the model 121 CG but the container indicates they are for the Crosman model 200 carbine. No other mention of the model 200 has ever been found.
Another nice item is the model 747 that holds something like 6 pounds of BBs. Finding one of these in nice condition is a real challenge. Most are missing at least some portion of the label, due to the way they were packabed.
Other than the above containers, there is little value in any of the Crosman containers. Crosman made them all by the millions.
DT Fletcher |