Hmmm.... Not much of a comparison - there were many different manufacturers of orthos, some good, some not so god, and a few really awful ones.
Carton 0.96" eyepieces were fairly poor quality - about a 4 out of 10, I had a couple and threw them in the bin some years later. Edmunds RKE's (just 3 elements) were much better eyepieces, and cost less; I kept a set of these for many years eventually donating them to a worthy cause.
OTOH you could have picked Zeiss, whose orthos cost rather more, see for example
http://company7.com/zeiss/products/czabbeoclr.html and the Zeiss ones are now collectible and have appreciated considerably if you have a full set in mint condition in the walnut box, e.g.
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds...fied_id=674127
Yep, that's $700 apiece for 4-element 1.25" eyepieces with a 45 degree field. Sensible ?