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[topsnotspinning]

Thanks for the questions: the little boy you mention is a sterling silver Victorian napkin ring. It is from a set of 4 that depicted children playing different games. I've seen one other that depicts a boy with a stick horse. The bright colors of tin lithography caught our attention early on -- we had a fairly extensive collection of sand pails and sand toys that we sold a decade ago to make room for more tops. Ohio Art, Chein, Wyandotte, and MFZ are some of our favorite producers of tin litho tops.

The box of spring tops are small Japanese knock-offs of the Gibbs tops from the forties. You are correct on the Naef and Alan Gray items! The big FAO Schwarz store in Chicago that has since closed featured a sidewalk diabolo performer for many years -- that and some antique postcards featuring diabolos got us interested in collecting them. Dreidels, top games, advertising spinners, and gyroscopes are other sub-groups in the collection.

We're always willing to trade

.

[ta0]

I wrote to Bob (topsnotspinning) asking him about a possible trade. I was shocked when he wrote back and said that on New Year's Eve their house burned to the ground. They lost all their belongings, cars, memories, and collections, including carousel horses, inkwells, toys, stained glass, marbles, more than fifty historic paintings and over 4,000 spinning tops. In addition they lost their beloved dog.
So the pictures on this thread show tops that no longer exist. I never got to visit his collection in Chicago (he had invited me). 

It puts into perspective the value of things and how life is unpredictable.

[the Earl of Whirl]

So so so sorry to hear all of this.