ABSTRACT
The contemporary look characterizing Op-Yop when it was first marketed in 1968 belied its derivation from the ages-old button-on-a-string toys. Manufactured by Kramer Designs of Royal Oak, Michigan, it consisted of twin twirling disks colored in psychedelic hues. When the string was pulled taut, the disks whirled apart, then clopped together in mid-spin, sounding like, according to Time magazine, "a shark with loose plates chewing on an oyster". Like countless other nonsensical objects of a similar strip, its essential appeal proved impossible to fathom. Nevertheless, approximately two million Op-Yops were sold that year before the product sank like a stone in 1969.
