Spinning Tops

Through the ages, tops have been made from stone, animal horn, ivory, clay, birch, mahogany, red oak acorns, bamboo, ground conch shell, powdered quartz put in a mold and then glazed, metal, and plastic, and they have fascinated generations of children. Clay tops were played with by the Babylonian children as early as 3000 b.c.E. The ancient Egyptians created tops for children from clay glazed in a hot kiln. In ancient Greece, women and children whipped tops with grass reeds. Jewish children have played with dreidel tops during the eight days of Hanukkah for more than 2,000 years. The Hebrew message written on the top (nes gadol hay ah sham) means “a great miracle happened there.”

A pair of vintage metal spinning tops, one decorated with boys running and one with the “10 Little Indians” rhyme.

In Japan, top spinning, Koma Asobi, has been a favorite child's activity for centuries. The Japanese toymakers have produced hundreds of different types of tops for all seasons and types of surfaces, and their tops can be as large a man's fist or a small head. Spinning the oversized object requires the player to wind a cord around the top, and yank hard (similar to starting an early gas lawnmower) to get the impetus required for the twirling action. The Chinese culture is accredited for the creation of the diabolo top (ko-en-gen) that spins along a string and has served as a form of public entertainment for several centuries. China also boasts of having the world's largest spinning top, weighing approximately 617 pounds.

By the 1700s, some town squares in Europe set aside a large top for villagers to spin to warm themselves in the cold. England's humming or whistling tops became very popular in the 1800s. They were created by cutting a small hole in the body of the top, through which air whistled or hummed while spinning. England's peg top (known for the top's point) is spun by winding a string or cord around the top and throwing the top to unwind the string and set the top in motion.

Colonial American children also played with hand-carved wooden tops with grooves engraved in the sides. Strips of cow rawhide were tied to the end of a stick to [Page 676]create a small whip, and eel skins were also used as whips. Tops that spun continuously and did not move from a stationary place were termed sleeping. Less challenging, the small finger top was set into a spinning motion by twirling it between the thumb and fingers, and it obtained one of the earliest toy patents granted by the U.S. Patent Office. From a cultural position, tops were considered an inexpensive and amusing toy for young and older children alike, when they became weary from more vigorous, active games and sports.

The top spinning game Encounters was played in the early 1800s in the United States. The objective was to knock down or cause other player's tops to wobble. Players used peg tops that were slightly less than two inches in diameter, and the circumference was marked with ribs to retain the string. Cassell's Book of Sport and Pastimes identifies a large variety of popular tops. These included the Chameleon Top, the Flying Top, the French Top, the Spanish Top, and the Globe Top, among others. The Chameleon Top held a special fascination with children because of its mechanical nature. Young purchasers wound a piece of cord around the upright stem of the top. The sharp metal peg was then inserted into a small round base having a tiny hole. To operate, the child held the top in the left hand and pressed down using the thumb. At the same time, the right hand pulled the cord sharply to set the top spinning.

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