Here’s a neat piece of yoyo history…an incredibly rare Flores replacement string pack! These don’t turn up very often…check it out!

In the 1920s, a Filipino man named Pedro Flores immigrated to the United States, bringing the first yo-yo with him. He established Flores Yo-Yos in the San Francisco Bay Area to sell these toys, each of which was hand carved out of a single piece of wood. Instead of having the string tied to the axle, as was traditional with bandalores, the Flores yo-yo’s string looped around the axle, which let the toy spin at the end of the string. This development lead to the birth of modern-day yo-yoing, which allows for elaborate tricks, instead of just bouncing up and down.

In the late ’20s, Donald F. Duncan saw a child playing with a Flores yo-yo and realized it had the potential to be a nationwide sensation. He soon joined Flores’ company as a marketer, hosting yo-yo competitions. By 1929, he had bought Flores out of the company, renaming it the Genuine Duncan Yo-Yo Company, and in 1932, he trademarked the word “yo-yo,” prompting competitors to use words and phrases like “come-back,” “return,” “returning top,” “whirl-a-gig,” and “twirler” to describe their products. He sent “Duncan Yo-Yo Professionals” on tours across the country, where they would teach yo-yo skills and hold competitions.