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[jim in paris]

it was a fun fun day !
https://youtu.be/Yslki8mn-ZU

jim

[ta0]

Thanks for the video Jim!
Some of the displays look different than when I was there last time.
I'll try to post something from that visit this weekend.

[butterfingers]

That's a very interesting collection. Many vintage items and some that border on 'artifact' or 'antiquity' - but I think that may be a matter of perspective that I bring to this as an American. I think other countries have a different idea of what 'really old' means.

Thank you for sharing. There were several items I had never seen before.

[Mermouy]

Here are shots from my phone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShoQRFr22w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QRbvfrX7s

Also,few pictures available:

 

Full gallery here

[ta0]

Many vintage items and some that border on 'artifact' or 'antiquity' - but I think that may be a matter of perspective that I bring to this as an American. I think other countries have a different idea of what 'really old' means.

There are plenty of antiques there, even for old European eyes.

At the beginning of the second video I can hear Jose asking about the value of a top doll with a silk dress that he also has (from Don's collection, I guess). Cyril says that it depends on the condition, but with Cyril's estimate of 500 euros I don't think he is going to let his daughters play with it . . .

The canes with top launchers are quite incredible!

[jmadrigal]

I am not a collector. I knew the doll was old but didn't have any info on it. I just picked up a memento for my daughter from my trip to Ohio. Seeing that he had the same type doll I figured he would know about it. It is a nice piece but I don't see my self seeking out more collectables. I will however teach my daughter to cherish it and will serve as a nice memory.

On this trip I picked up nesting dolls for both my daughters from Ludo's table. My younger daughter is playing with it as I write this.

[Mermouy]

The canes with top launchers are quite incredible!

We can't see here but on the light brown/orange one, the handle is actually a top that just popup and looks like a small "bouchon" top then, inside the tube of the cane you find the small whip to play with... Just magic!

[Jeremy McCreary]

I've pored over Jim's excellent videos of previous visits to Cyril's collection countless times looking for antique designs to emulate/extend with LEGO. These videos encouraged my focus on mechanical tops and starters and on tops with striking optical effects in motion.

I knew that Cyril's collection abounded in such things. The examples from German toymaker Märklin are especially impressive.

But nothing prepared me for the depth and breadth of what I saw in person. The great creativity, time, effort, and skill devoted to the top over the centuries make clear just how special this toy has been, both through time and around the globe.

[ta0]

I finally made a video of my visit to Cyril's collection a year ago. Actually, of just the tables 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLd4vsp74SY

[Renee]

I wish the overdubbed music was softer so we could hear the natural sound of each table.  I really like the ringing sounds of the third table, around the 2 minute mark.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Did I count seven spin top tables at Cyril's?  That is fantastic.  I always knew he had one big one but that shot of the whole room and all that whirling fun is amazing!!!

[ta0]

I wish the overdubbed music was softer so we could hear the natural sound of each table.  I really like the ringing sounds of the third table, around the 2 minute mark.

You are 100% right. I re-uploaded the video with no background music and enhanced volume 

Did I count seven spin top tables at Cyril's?  That is fantastic.  I always knew he had one big one but that shot of the whole room and all that whirling fun is amazing!!!

I count seven tables in the room, plus the skittles from the English castle on the floor and the table just outside the room.
The video missed action on two tables: the small one in the middle and the one that belonged to a young Louis XVI, before he lost his head with Marie Antoinette. I couldn't convince Cyril to play on the royal table and I don't blame him!

[Renee]

You are 100% right. I re-uploaded the video with no background music and enhanced volume 

Thank you!  That is so much better!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

A top table owned by Louis the XVI???  Wow!!!  I talked with Don Olney and we were both marveling at this top history.

So, the infamous king from French revolutionary times played with tops.  So many other famous people through the years have played with tops.  It is just not documented anywhere who all these people were.

[Jeremy McCreary]

And many many other famous people through the years have played with tops.

Besides me, I know of these examples from science...

James Clerk Maxwell, arguably the greatest physicist of the 19th century, played with tops throughout his life. He also put them to very good use as scientific instruments -- e.g., when he founded the modern theory of color vision.

There's also a famous photo of Neils Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli, arguably two of the most famous physicists of the 20th century, bent over a tippe top on the floor in total fascination ca. 1920, I think.

No idea how often these two played with tops otherwise, but ideas extended from the classical spin of a top soon became the abstract quantum spin of a large class of elementary particles, including the electron. Quantum spin is now a cornerstone of quantum mechanics.