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[the Earl of Whirl]

Hey silvertop!  Glad you found us here with your collection.  Yes, I arrived home safely after a couple nice stops for walks, including a visit to the Walden Galleria.  Sorry I did not call you when I arrived home but it was super late and I made it even later by unloading when I arrived.  The collection is really interesting, though, and I am learning all kinds of things.  Here is one of my questions.  Do you remember anything about a top purchase from France?  The total for the tops is something like $40 but then the total charge is over $400!  Was that really the cost of shipping?  Or maybe I am just totally confused here.

[silvertop]

Not sure what you are referring to on France.... is there a receipt in the stuff that you are referring to? Can you send me a photo of it??  Very glad all went well with the trip back.  I think I mentioned  earlier that I found a box that was packed for you, but missed the bus!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ha ha!  I cannot put my hands on the bag right now but I have another question until then.  The little metal finger spinners you made with retro ads on them are great spinners.  Did you make them at your workshop?  You have a bunch of unique names and companies on them.

[the Earl of Whirl]

By accident, I called Don.  We had a good conversation (even if it was by accident) and he told me more of the background of those little metal finger spinners that advertised different things (sometimes some quite unusual things).  The Toycrafter sold them but they were actually made by the Parisian Company.  He said they are a company that makes buttons.  I looked it up and I think he is referring to the Parisian Novelty Company.  Their website says "as the name suggests, they manufactured novelties such as advertising toys.  They had a preference for novelties that used celluloid as a major component in their manufacture."

I was stunned when Don said they would order tops in lots of 5000!!!  He said when The Toycrafter was really rolling they went through those tops pretty well.  There are now quite a number of these tops in Miamisburg.  They are terrific finger spinners and always well balanced.  Here is an example.....

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/ANTIQUE-DATED-1916-OYSTER-CRACKER-ADVERTISING-SPINNING-TOP-PARISIAN-NOVELTY-CO/142049148482

[ta0]

Wow! I had no idea that the same company that made the old advertising celluloid tops made the similar-looking finger tops of Toycrafter, so many years after. The original patent was US Pat. 1,160,618, Novermber 16, 1915, by Louis L. Joseph from Chicago.





Some tops from Parisian Novelty reference a different patent: US Pat. 1,267,558, May 28, 1918, by Joseph Komorous from Chicago.





I only see a slight difference in the shape of the axle. There is also an earlier patent, US Pat. 1,139,119, May 11, 1915, by Isidor Heidenreich from Chicago, for a very similar celluloid advertising top that I also suspect is related to Parisian Novelty. But that one had a metal axle and I don't now if it was produced.





Note that the "celluloid" part is only a clear cover over the printed paper with the advertising, which goes over a metal disc.

The website says:

In November 2008, the button division of the Parisian Novelty Company was acquired by the Matchless Group, also started in Chicago in 1885, and renamed Matchless Parisian Novelty, Inc.

So I guess they finally stopped making tops ten years ago. Or perhaps that division continued under another name. 

[the Earl of Whirl]

Wow!  Great information.  The company did an excellent job with these tops.  They not only look good but they are fantastic spinners.....especially on my cell phone.  They are small enough to carry a couple in my pocket and always get people's attention.  Don has interesting advertisements on them from all over the US.

[peonza]

Now I'm looking for information about The parisian Novelty and this are some of the spinning tops I find:














I think there are many spinning tops of this company which made different advertisements item for differents companies

[Jeremy McCreary]

Wonderful tops!

Hard to believe that there was once a time when Congress and the White House had positive marketing value.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Very good, peonza!  I recognize a few of those.  I have found these kinds of tops all over and in all kinds of places in Don's collection.  Little by little I have been getting them together in one container.  The unique advertisements on these really make me smile.

[peonza]

Quote
In November 2008, the button division of the Parisian Novelty Company was acquired by the Matchless Group, also started in Chicago in 1885, and renamed Matchless Parisian Novelty, Inc.
The new company make buttons but not spinning tops. The web is
http://www.matchlessparisiannovelty.com/products.html

[the Earl of Whirl]

Too bad they do not make tops.  I would still like to talk to them. 

Little by little I am making progress and walking is a bit easier around the Hall of Fame.  I think I found all the dreidels I could and boxed them up for Larry D.  Also, I took two big bags of Toys-R-Us type plastic tops to a local juggling group.  John Buechele was there and demonstrated the diabolo.  I showed them a few top tricks and then they went crazy for the tops in the bags.  I need to go back there in the new year.  That is the Indian Riffle Elementary Juggling group but they have a big container of tops they have collected.  Paula Bennett is their leader and she has gone to a number of our top festivals in Miamisburg.  I thought I had an old thread about them but that may have been on the old board, as I cannot find anything about them on itopspin.com

[the Earl of Whirl]

I have one less Tornado Rex game.  My son and his family had so much fun playing it while they were here for Christmas that they begged to take it back to North Carolina to share with their friends.  Of course, I was happy to see it go to a good home along with a sample bag of odds and ends from the Don's collection.  He can use that at his church with the youth and others interested.

I visited a church in Farmersville recently (in connection with a funeral) and dropped off a bag of goodies for their pastor and their youth group.  A woman looked in the bag and said "Oh, these are the good tops!!!"

Our sister congregation here in town is now in their 200th year (we are still two years away from our 200th).  My plan is to get them a special package of spinning goodies with a note saying "for 200 years you have been tops."  Maybe we will make some friends from that?

[Jeremy McCreary]

If spintoy outreach was Don's goal, he entrusted his collection to the right guy!

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ha ha!!!  You are so kind, Jeremy McCreary.  I must admit, this collection has been quite an adventure and I feel like there are many many more stories out there.  I am tired of football and basketball news so this top news is a breath of fresh air.

I called Don to talk about money (yes, I continue to send money from all of you on to him) and asked about who was working with him to get all of these tops.  He said it was mostly him except for the Budworth collection in England, Ed Levin's tops and the couple of antique shows that came to Rochester every year.  Don stopped at a number of antique stores around the country and always had his eye out for potential spinners.  He did not know about Dan Lassanske's passing and that his top collection is up for sale with a video on this forum.  He said that he once visited Dan and saw his amazing collection and how well it was organized...…..it was almost depressing!!!

The old Toycrafter stomping grounds had some recent problems with leaking and water damage.  This has taken some time away from Don's work but he is optimistic about the future and looks forward to the next RIT Juggling Festival.  It looks like it is April 5-7.  I hope to make it and to catch up with many good friends.     

[Jeremy McCreary]

I must admit, this collection has been quite an adventure and I feel like there are many many more stories out there.

Larry D's done some top demos for kids at local public libraries, and butterfingers recently did one in a similar public venue. Have you considered places like that?

I called Don to talk about money (yes, I continue to send money from all of you on to him)...

If Don's selling off some of his collection, I might be interested in a few pieces. How does this work?