Cheerio-branded yo-yo display box. While the trade mark copyright on the box says 1947, this box is likely from the early to mid 1950s. The box held six "Official Champion Cheerios" and was often positioned on a store's counter top, near a cash register. The outward, visible portion of the display box makes no mention of any specific model that was inside the box. Whatever the model was, it apparently cost 59¢. Sometimes, however, the pre-printed price on the box was labeled over with an alternate price that was inline with the model that was sold out of the box. Some of these boxes included Cheerio brand models, while some included Hi-Ker brand models. It's unknown how it was decided what yo-yo model went into the box. The only thing known for sure is that it didn't contain Duncan yo-yos!
The bottom of the box held instructions -- in English, French, and Spanish -- for the Cheerio dealer or the vendor that was selling the yo-yos. The text and pictures encouraged them to increase their sales and goodwill by showing customers how to replace a worn string on their yo-yo with a genuine Cheerio string. The string packs were often placed behind the counter so a customer had to ask for them. Note that the instructions mention "99". The Cheerio "99" was a very popular model and suggests that it may have been the yo-yo that was inside this box. Note also the use of both a boy and girl image on the top panel doing two-handed play.
