Vintage Top Reference

[figs]

I saw this in a restaurant in Brooklyn and thought you guys might get a kick out of it.

The place is decorated with vintage Boxing memorabilia.  Is there a connection between Boxing and tops?  I don't think so... but I appreciate it from a design standpoint.

[lincolnrick]

I think 'TopNocher' would be a cool user id 

[ta0]

Here is a connection between tops and boxing: "Tip-Top Boxing: The Manly Art of Self Defense."



The battling top game features two famous American boxers of the 20's: Jack Demsey and Harry Wills, and each one had assigned a corner:

 

I don't recall for how much this game went on ebay but it was substantial. That in spite of a problem it had. Any guesses what it was?

[ta0]

That in spite of a problem it had. Any guesses what it was?

I am surprised nobody has made a guess. This sounds like something Mike would be interested in, , in spite of the boxing angle (boxing does not interest me, either).

As you can see it included the two tops:



and the ring was in good shape:

[ta0]

I thought this was going to be easy, but perhaps the question was too misleading. I thought somebody was going to google Demsey vs. Wills and find out that the fight never happened. Actually, this for a collector is likely a big plus because the fight was scheduled but Demsey did not honor the agreement and it was a huge controversy at that time. I wonder if this game came out in the months between the agreement to fight and the cancellation.

According to Wikipedia: Harry "The Black Panther" Wills (May 15, 1889 – December 21, 1958) was perhaps the most well known victim of the "color line" drawn by white heavyweight champions after the title reign of Jack Johnson. Wills fought for over twenty years (1911-1932), was ranked as the number one challenger for the throne, but was never given the opportunity to fight for the title.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Sorry, I was busy over the weekend.  I am just catching up.

This is quite an interesting item.  I don't ever remember seeing anything like it.  In fact, as much as I have heard about Demsey I have heard nothing about Wills.  It's a sad story that he never had the opportunity to fight for the title because of the color of his skin.  That's really interesting that this game picked up on these two for the top battle!

Are those whip tops?  There certainly isn't much space there for whipping!

[ta0]

If you look carefully, they are of the type you spin with a spring-loaded launcher (that they have on), probably from Gibbs.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Does the problem have to do with the tops when they are spinning?  Do they look too much alike when they are spinning?

[ta0]

  I framed the question as a "problem" so as not to give too easy a clue, but the problem was not really "a problem", just that the fight of the game never took place. But I think that not only did not detract from the value of the game for a collector but added more value, I think.

[the Earl of Whirl]

OK.  I understand now.  And I have to agree with you, I think the fact that they didn't meet in the ring for a fight makes the item much more interesting.

Thanks for the explanation.