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Author Topic: Don Olney's Top Collection  (Read 19116 times)

butterfingers

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #15 on: November 07, 2018, 07:18:13 AM »

  I may have heard a few more stories.  One of my favorites is the mysterious former employee who called himself Zonkers..... Sadly, no one has seen him for a while and he may have died.

Good to know you made it back OK. Zonkers is not someone I had heard of before. I took a moment to check out his posts on the forum and found him alive and active on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/usr/zonkers-collection

I am sure Don would be able to contact him on ebay through their message service if the forum messages don't get through.

I can confirm that we packed quite a few dreiidels in those boxes. Hopefully you will find what Larry's interested in.
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Larry D.

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #16 on: November 07, 2018, 08:10:38 PM »

I can confirm that we packed quite a few dreiidels in those boxes. Hopefully you will find what Larry's interested in.

Humm…

Thanks for the update butterfingers!  :)

Perhaps Mike may find them while unpacking.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2018, 11:03:08 PM by Larry D. »
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the Earl of Whirl

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #17 on: November 07, 2018, 10:42:09 PM »

When I was returning the van today, I took one last look under the seats to make sure there were not any escapees.  Good thing I looked as I found a little metal finger spinner.  The top said "Sears", which is quite ironic as our local Sears store near the car rental business is in the process of closing.  I took the top into the store and showed a number of Sears workers.  Each one nodded with me as we remembered when Sears was, indeed, tops.
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the Earl of Whirl

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #18 on: November 08, 2018, 12:30:15 AM »

I opened a lot of boxes tonight.  I saw some dreidels but not the large quantity that Larry had set aside.  I did find two large bags (a gross each?) of Halloween tops.  Rats, just a few days too late for this year.  I also found an empty Captain Crunch cereal box which reminded me of the full box of this cereal we found at the Burg fest in late August.  We were joking about trying to get some people to try it on a video or at some big event (worlds next year in Cleveland?).  The box came up missing so someone must have picked it up and has some ideas.  I was feeling a bit let down that some good potential humor slipped away.  I was reflecting on this tonight as I was opening more containers and then......there it was!  Another box of Captain Crunch.  I started laughing.  Then I found another.  And then another.  And then another.  And then another.  Amazing!!!
« Last Edit: November 08, 2018, 12:34:12 AM by the Earl of Whirl »
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JNeff

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #19 on: November 08, 2018, 05:03:20 PM »

Keep going Mike. Like a kid in a candy store.
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the Earl of Whirl

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #20 on: November 08, 2018, 06:01:27 PM »

Thanks, JNeff.  Those rascals by the names of Butterfingers and Mailman have been sneaky.  They have been surprisingly quiet and now I know why.  I found five more full boxes of Captain Crunch cereal and another 6 box covers without the cereal.  They knew more were coming and were keeping quiet about it.  They were probably snickering while I was first talking about those full boxes!!!

I am putting eight empty boxes (not Captain Crunch boxes) out for the trash.  I have been able to shelve or condense that many so far.  I can get around the hall of fame a little easier now.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2018, 09:09:36 PM by the Earl of Whirl »
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butterfingers

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #21 on: November 08, 2018, 06:51:32 PM »

Thanks, JNeff.  Those rascals by the names of Butterfingers and Mailman have been sneaky.  They have been surprisingly quiet and now I know why.  I found five more full boxes of Captain Crunch cereal and another 6 box covers without the cereal.  They knew more were coming and were keeping quiet about it.  They were probably snickering while I was first talking about those full boxes!!!

Guilty as charged! I recall Mailman and I were pretty amused by the Cap'n Crunch boxes. Silvertop has a good eye for anything top related and the Cap'n Crunch qualified for sure! As we were packing Don Olney would say, "That can go to Mike" or "That's for Mike" - and we'd pack it up - just following orders from a harsh and unyielding taskmaster...and we just kept finding more and more cereal boxes. We threw some out that were damaged so you didn't get all of them.

I'm glad you see the humor in it. Maybe you can establish a breakfast nook in the museum.
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mailman

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #22 on: November 08, 2018, 07:21:58 PM »

I wonder whether that full pallet of Cap'n Crunch we sent to Ohio via common carrier has arrived there, yet.....
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ta0

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #23 on: November 08, 2018, 11:55:31 PM »

Wow! Wow!  :o

Remind me about the Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes. What's the relation to tops?
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the Earl of Whirl

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #24 on: November 09, 2018, 08:42:41 AM »

I did not get the full connection until this last trip to Rochester.  Captain Crunch sort of became the Cracker Jack of the breakfast cereals.  On the internet I found huge collections of toys people have gotten from Captain Crunch boxes.  Each one of the boxes Don saved has a picture in the corner of a top that is the toy inside.  I always thought Don was so crazy about tops that he just had to buy the whole thing and never got around to taking out the spin top prize.  This brings me to the rest of the story.  It turns out that Don designed the top they used and received a nice royalty from it all.  He did not make the tops (they are made out of plastic and he is a wood man) but he came up with some good help for them, most especially the unique tip which is not a point but a plus sign.  So, all those Captain Crunch boxes are a reminder to him of a job well done which, oddly enough, makes me happy to have all those items.  They will make a nice display and bring me lots of smiles every time I walk into the hall of fame!!!
« Last Edit: November 09, 2018, 08:47:02 AM by the Earl of Whirl »
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Renee

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #25 on: November 09, 2018, 09:16:01 AM »

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butterfingers

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #26 on: November 09, 2018, 11:12:47 AM »

- I had no idea he designed the top. Don never mentioned it. I just assumed that his interest in it was because it was a non-top related product that mentioned or pictured a spin top. Thanks for sharing the story!

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ta0

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #27 on: November 09, 2018, 11:43:19 AM »

:o I was expecting the premium top inside but the story of Don designing them makes it much more interesting.  8)

Here is an auction for just the top that came inside: www.ebay.com/itm//292533920876



and another from 1990: www.ebay.com/itm/182499330491

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Jeremy McCreary

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #28 on: November 09, 2018, 02:40:38 PM »

Larry introduced me to Don's top designs 2 years ago, and I've been a big fan ever since. Don's a master of the spinning top as a platform for optical effects and counter-intuitive "choreographies" (motion sequences during spin-down). These are increasingly high-priority design goals for me as well. I'm still a stickler for minimizing wobble when it's not part of the intended choreography, but spin time often takes back seat.

... another from 1990: www.ebay.com/itm/182499330491

Since tops mix colors under the same additive rules used for RGB screens, I have a hunch as to what this one might look like at speed, and I bet it's good. But optical tops are full of surprises, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One thing's for sure -- this would be a wild one under a strobe light, where you'd see speed-dependent color-mixing and stroboscopic effects all at once.
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silvertop

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Re: Don Olney's Top Collection
« Reply #29 on: November 10, 2018, 09:32:01 PM »

Glad you got home safely!  Pretty empty around here.. Did find a box that was supposed to go with you, but is still here.  Found a recent listing on EBay from ex-toycrafter so rumors of his demise are evidently happily premature.  Lots of other non-spinning stuff to still go over, plus all of The Toycrafter tops, toys, paperwork. photos, catalogs, samples, etc are still here and I hope to soon start writing a history of my business, using all the saved stuff as reminders and inspiration!
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Don Olney
1237 E. Main St.
Rochester, NY 14609
topman@rochester.rr.com
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