I think I remember vaguely Jakub mentioning that he visited the Toy Museum in Prague and that there were no tops except some pull tops (but I could not find that post, so I may be wrong). Anyways, just by chance I passed by the entrance of the museum and I had to go in and check it for myself.
My first search through the two floors did not find any spintop (not even a finger top or a pump top) or yo-yo (!), and just one wooden diabolo (but 500 barbies)! So I went to receptionist/cashier and asked her if there were no tops on display. She did not take me seriously (gave me a card for a toy shop) until I mentioned I was a collector: then her eyes opened wide and she proudly took me to a display I had missed:
Two pull tops and one whip top. That is it. The only description says: "The Victorian
Singing Spring-Tops originate from the end of the 19th century."
Talking about museums, by a few minutes I missed the opportunity of feeling like a top. More precisely the Coriolis force at the Palace of Discovery museum in Paris. Better than to describe it, here is a video I found in youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjVB0wgTvrkAfter the demonstration finished I talked to the presenter and did several spintop demos (including gyroscopic flop) using the Chico top I (still) had with me. I suggested that I had some friends in Paris who could give a demo, but he said that would not fit the museum program. But he was interested in learning some tricks for the mechanical demonstrations, so he wrote down my website. I had been there on a previous visit to Paris and that time I talked to the a guy doing a demonstration with magnetic induction. I did a boomerang with the hollow point and described to him how it could be used to show induction although he did not have at hand an adequate magnet to do it. I love the place but again did not have time to see as much as I wanted (I had to run for my appointment with Ludo that never happened) so I will be back one day.