To quote from Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos, "All Duncan yo-yos marked ‘Tournament Yo-Yo’ are classic tournament shaped. When adults reminisce about their childhood yo-yoing days, this is the yo-yo most commonly described. Duncan produced millions of Tournament yo-yos. Over the decades, several different seals bore the word ‘Tournament’ and most carried the familiar decorative airbrushed paint stripe on both faces."
Wooden Tournament[]
The first Tournament yo-yo from Duncan was the Big 'G' Gold Seal Tournament, produced throughout the 1930s and ubiquitous on the contest circuit. Following this were the Big 'G' Stamped Seal Tournament, the Big 'G' Yellow Seal Tournament, the Little 'G' Yellow Seal Tournament, and the Little 'G' Stamped Seal Tournament, the latter two more prevalent during the 1940s and 1950s.
There are several seal variations of the '77' Tournament, which was also popular in the 1940-1950 time frame. They all feature a silhouette of Mr. Yo-Yo, but on some he is on a pedestal and others he is not. Likewise, the "Y"s in the word "Yo-Yo" on some 77s are split horizontally and on others they are not. All 77s have a decal seal which is somewhat delicate and tends to crack and peel with age, so it is difficult to find one in good shape.
The Super Tournament was made from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. The Crossed Flags Tournament, was the last wooden Tournament model sold by Duncan. Although production stopped in 1965 when Duncan closed its doors, so many had been manufactured and warehoused that they continued to sell into the early 1970s.
Jeweled Tournament (Wooden)[]
Since the late 1930s, Duncan produced Jeweled versions of their Tournament yo-yos with multiple rhinestones on them, which were originally meant as prizes for contests. However, it wasn't until 1953 when they started adding the word "Jeweled" onto the yo-yos and sold them for retail.
The most common version was the Jeweled Tournament from the 1950s which had a stamp that resembled that of the Super Tournament, and had a row of four white rhinestones in the middle of the stamp. However, there did exist Jeweled Super Tournament yo-yos, which also had the row of four white rhinestones but actually had the stamp of a Super Tournament and no mention of the word "Jeweled".
Other versions include the '101' Jeweled Tournament, a Canada-exclusive release also from the 1950s, but had a decal seal instead of a stamp, which had similarities with the design of the '77' Tournament decal, most notably the Duncan logo and the silhouette of Mr. Yo-Yo. There was also a Jeweled Crossed Flags Tournament, which had the stamp of a Crossed Flags Tournament yo-yo. This would be the last version of the Jeweled yo-yos (not counting the replicas) produced by Duncan before it closed doors.
Plastic Tournament[]
The first pre-Flambeau plastic Tournament made in the 1950s was Duncan's first attempt at a plastic yo-yo. With thin plastic shells and weighing 41.7 grams, it was a very lightweight yo-yo, and was not as popular as the wooden yo-yos being sold at the time, so it had a very short production lifespan. They would later release another plastic yo-yo called the Imperial, which was made of thicker, heavier, and more durable 'Tenite' plastic, and was a much well-received yo-yo.
Two versions of the pre-Flambeau plastic Tournaments are known to exist; the Big 'G' Deluxe Plastic Tournament, and the Little 'G' Plastic Tournament.
Flambeau continued to produce plastic yo-yos under the "Tournament" name from the late 1960s and through the 1970s, using the same mold as the Imperial. The first Flambeau plastic Tournament, nicknamed the "Tournament Glitter", was black in color and had fine glitters inside the molded plastic. Later Flambeau plastic Tournament yo-yos were made of a single-colored opaque plastic.
Replicas (Wooden)[]
In the 1990s and 2000s, Duncan released replicas of their most iconic yo-yos from the 1960s. Among the Tournament line of yo-yos, they released replicas of the Super Tournament, Jeweled Tournament and the Crossed Flags Tournament yo-yos. They were manufactured by various wood yo-yo manufacturers depending on when they were released, and vary greatly in quality.
A quick way to tell a replica from an original is by looking at the placement of the registered trademark symbol on the marking of the yo-yo. A replica has the symbol placed beside the word "DUNCAN", while an original has the symbol placed somewhere near the word "Yo-Yo".
Photos[]
_Front.jpg "Duncan Big G Stamped ('Louise') Front.jpg (28 KB)")
