The Duncan Imperial, a major popular Yo-Yo from the 60s ...
The Yo-yo. It may very well be the oldest toys on the planet. Dating back to around 500 B.C. , yo-yo’s have been depicted as being played with by children on pottery, and Greco records describe Yo-Yos as having been made of various materials ranging from wood to terra cota. They weren’t only used for play though. Some have been used in religious coming of age ceremonies as an offering to the gods.
They were also used for hunting, in the Phillipines, there’s evidence from the 16th century of yo-yos being used as a weapon to capture and kill game thanks to a 20 foot long cord tied to a rock.
But the Yo-yo didn’t reach it’s stride until 1928, when James Haven and Charles Hettrick received a patent on a “bandelore” in the late 19th century. By 1929, the Yo-Yo was just catching on as a pop culture icon until after World War II, thanks to Donald Duncan, the creator of the Duncan Imperial Yo-yo. I had a purple one and they spin like a beautifully balanced wheel.
When the Duncan Butterfly came out in the late 60s, every kid wanted one.
Unfortunately, though Duncan put the YoYo in the forefront, he was forced to sell the company in the mid sixties to a to costly court case he fought and lost in 1968, when a Federal Appeals Court decided that the Yo-Yo was too common to have a patent. But Duncan Yo-Yos are still made by Flambeau Plastics and you can get them today for around $2-10 (third party yo-yos can run for more).
But Duncan Yo-Yos are still made by Flambeau Plastics and you can get them today for around $2-10.