Historic Treasure of the Week - January 5, 1992
By Time Weir and Cindy Weir
Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - January 5, 1992
By Time Weir and Cindy Weir
Vigo County Historical Society
Tops: Toy to weapon
Roots traced to ancient Egypt
There was a time if a boy was asked to empty his pockets you probably would find a rusty, bent nail, a piece of glass, used chewing gum, possibly a frog, and, of course, a bit of string and a top.
Be it a twirler that might be a disk with a stem by which it was spun by the fingers, or a tippe top that was spun away by a cord and the flick of the wrist, there was sure to be one.
The actual beginning of the top is not known. It may have come from the twirling firedrill, Another conception is that bearings from an ancient potters wheel were freed upon the ground.
Tops are shown in ancient Egyptian drawings and also on early Greek pots. They are known by the Eskimos in the Arctic and primitive tribes in Borneo and Java.
We usually think of tops as being inverted wooden pears with a metal spike on which they spin. In ancient times, tops were made of clay and were as highly decorated as any of ceramic objects of the time. Sometimes primitive tribes made tops of stone weighing as much as two pounds. Fruits and vegetables were sometimes used. Acorns were easily spun, along with pine cones and coconut shells. There are even records of a turnip being used.
Other materials included sea shells, plastic, nylon, tin and other metals. Almost anything that could be brought up on its axes to defy gravity could be--and has been--used.
Tops usually are thought to be toys, but in some cultures they were presented as votives. In other cultures, they were used as weapons and were flung at enemies. They also were used at games, as the bolero of South America.
But of all forms and types, the wooden top featured as the historical treasure of the week, and displayed in the Country Store, is the common one used by boys and girls for generations. Hours have been spent spinning tops to show skill and speed, or in top battles with one child spinning a top while another tries to spin another into it drawing it out of the circle.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.