Introduction
Whilst browsing in the library I noticed a children's book on the history of toys. At the back of it had a timeline of toys and to my surprise it was headed by "Spinning Tops" in the year 2000BC approx.
When I came home, I decided that I would put together a brief time line of "Western" spinning tops. Hey, there are many gaps but I am limited in the time that I can give to my tops interests, but all the same it might interest you.
An early Egyptian whip top. There are many wall carvings of tops in use in the Egyptian "Temples" (I think)
Classical Greek
These are the stuff that the illustrations on pottery are made of. Quite beautiful design and decoration.
Troy
This is a ceramic finger spin top from Troy. It looks as though it would be hard to finger spin. Perhaps it was hand spun?
Roman Empire
It would appear that the Roman occupation spread the pastime of tops all over Europe, though there is some evidence that tops were there before they occupied.
Dutch
From a beautiful drawing of many games in the Netherlands. I have just isolated the top spinning.1560.
German
German Peg top. There is a wealth of traditional German tops.
French
A lovely top. Again, there is a very rich heritage of tops in France.
Britain
Top spinning was very popular in Victorian Britain.
Comparatively recent advances in tops are the tin plunger top and the tippe top
I suspect the tin plunger came from China and the tippe top appears to have been first described in Denmark (To be confirmed!)
Tin Pump Top and Tippe Tops
Illustrations: Gould, G. W. The Top. Clarkson N Potter: New York, 1973.
Contact Brian Lemin: brian_l@avondale.edu.au
Last Revised December 10, 2001