Ever since the 1930’s, people have made snickering remarks about condoms. No self-respecting person talked about them in anything louder than a whisper.

They were something you swiped out of your older brother’s billfold and hid under the seat of your 1956 Chevy Bel Air convertible in the hope that some night you just might get lucky.

It wasn’t until people became aware of the AIDS virus that condoms began to be talked about in other than hushed voices by the general public.

Prior to that though, a small group of collectors had been hunting through flea markets and antique shops for the small tins that condoms were packaged in for many years.

These little tins, popular with a growing number of collectors for many years, took a significant step in their search for credibility recently when a 3 Pirates condom tin similar to the one to the right, sold for at a live auction for a little over $3500.

Very few condom tins bring anywhere near the price this little beauty did, but there are enough that will bring between $100 and $1000 that they are worth keeping an eye out for if you frequent antique shops or flea markets. Most general line dealers have no idea of the real value of condom tins which means there are bargains to be found. It also means there are a lot of overpriced examples out there too.

Many of the rarer condom tins do not have anything on them to indicate what they originally contained and often general-line dealers view them as just another attractive tin and price them for only a few dollars each.

If you are going to look for these I recommend you read Selling Condom Tins On eBay. Most of the information written there is still valid, but it was written three or four years ago so be sure to do some checking in eBay’s closed sales or an eBay auction research tool such as Terapeak before spending a lot of money.

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