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[PrincessTrouble]

Mars is a wonderfully gifted artisan.  His coin tops are precisely balanced to come to a stand stop on every spin.  His designs are mathematically planned to give awesome warping visuals (patterns that change and morph as the coin top spins).  Even his packaging and display stands are amazing.

Here are some pics of his Eye of Xibalba, which I'm lucky enough to own.  Xibalba is the door to the underworld of the Mayan cosmology.  18mm bearings with clear sapphires and rubies for inserts.

[ta0]

That might be the most amazing display for a top I have ever seen!   
Congratulations!

[Jeremy McCreary]

Where do coins come in -- the metallic accents?

Sadly, Googling "Mars 'coin top'" returns nothing about this artist or his tops.

[ta0]

Jeremy: I'm guessing they are called coin tops because of their overall shape.

Here is an interview and gallery of Mars Alexandre aka M. Works:
https://allthingsspinning.com/makers/mars-alexandre-m-work/

The interview appears on a website called "All things spinning" and seems to be a marketplace/gallery for artists making EDC tops.

[Iacopo]

It's scenographic.  It seems like something made for a movie.

[Jeremy McCreary]

Jeremy: I'm guessing they are called coin tops because of their overall shape...

I think you're right. Thanks for the link.

Every Mars coin top in that gallery is truly a work of art. The overall proportions are elegant, and the decorative patterns exquisite. Spinning these in person under a variable-speed strobe would yield some spectacular visuals.

That said, "EDC" spinthings seem to be evolving away from the simple but elegant designs I tend to like. Still admire the impressive feats of fabrication and enjoy the exotic materials, though.

[PrincessTrouble]

I didn't mean to start a new thread.  Thought I was replying in the other one (http://www.ta0.com/forum/index.php/topic,5709.0.html).  Doh!  lol

For those on Facebook, Mars' group is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1174157035977680/

And All Things Spinning is a great web site run by my friend Dean.  There's a companion Facebook group for it as well:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/818654881615427/

[Pepe]

This deserves its own thread!!

[Jeremy McCreary]

I didn't mean to start a new thread.  Thought I was replying in the other one (http://www.ta0.com/forum/index.php/topic,5709.0.html).

Sometimes ta0 bumps posts up to new thread status. Maybe here, too.

[PrincessTrouble]

Sometimes ta0 bumps posts up to new thread status. Maybe here, too.

Aha!  Let's go with that over me having a senior moment. 

From the other thread, here's a video of one of my favorite Mars coins - the Mecca Jr. 



Some pics:

[ta0]

Sometimes ta0 bumps posts up to new thread status. Maybe here, too.

I confess! I later also moved the original thread out of buy/sell, but that was at the request of the thread originator.

On a video (or a strobe light) that coin top is really nice because you have those rotating wheel or flower patterns going at different speed and many times is different directions. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be seen with the naked eye. The two patterns behave differently, because there are 12 small (5-petal) flowers inside but 13 large (3-petal) flowers on the periphery.