Figure 1.--Tops were probably more popular with boys than girls, but girls also played with them. One HBC contributor believes this French image may have been a boy. HBC concurs that it could be a boy but believes the child is a girl.

A popular activity for children over centuries was the top. The child's toy top has evolved into a wide variety of styles with only one common thread, they fascinated children, especially for some reason the boys. Available images of children playing with tops provide some interesting information about boys' fashions. Girls also enjoyed tops, but for some reason they were more popular with boys as with most mechanical toys. Tops were very popular in the 19th century. We see them in many period portraits. They continued to be popular in the early-20th century, but seem to have declined after World War II. We are not entirely sure why, but suspect that many more toys appeared which provided children more interesting options.

Background

Children for centuries have played with tops. I'm not sure where they first appeared, but probably ancient China. I'll try to get some historical information. What ever their origins, they clearly fascinated children. Boys seemed most interested for some reason. Mechanical toys always seem to appeal more to boys than girls. Children in the 19th century did not have the wide collection of toys that modern children have. As a result, the children made do with with much simplier toys and games. One of those was the top. The top was one of the favorite toys of 19th century children. The site of children playing with tops was a common sight in both Europe and America. There were many different designs. Some had sticks to pull the wound strip, giving the top a better spin.

Playing with Tops

Some interesting accounts exist of boys playing with tops. So far we have found more French images than from other countries. This is in part the result of the large French postcard industry.

France

We have found a variety of French images showing children playing with different gypes od tops. Many of these are postcard images. These images are staged, idealized images, but still of interest. One French accout in the 1890s described three kinds of tops.
The sabot: First the kind you whipped with an eelskin to make it whirl. That kind the boys called the sabot. Sometimes the eelskin twisted about the top and sent it flying through a windowpane.
Iron point: A top with an iron point which you threw with a whipcord furnished a much more exciting game. You first drew a circle on the asphalt and tried to fling the top so that it fell right in the center and drove away the other tops across the chalk line. Better still, if it lighted on another top and split it in half. For that reason the boys preferred tops of boxwood, smooth and yellow, and practically unbreakable.
The Dutch top: The third kind of top was a rarity, the Dutch top or mechanical top that whirled all by itself because it had a spring inside. That top was generally a New Year's present that you carried to school in secret just once to show the other boys. At home it was kept locked up in the cupboard with the toys that could not be played with every day.

United States

We know that tops were popular in America, but do not yet have images to conirm this.

Figure 2.--An Edwardian era boy dressed in A Fauntleroy with large ruffled collar and playing with his top in a park. A visit to the park at the turn of the century was deemed to an occasionnfor dressing up--even to play hoops. The idea of leisure clothes was several decades away.

Children's Clothing

The top was also a very democratic toy. While perhaps not as cheap as a hoop and stick, there were very inexpensive tops available to virtually any boy. Thus the poorest boy could play. But it was just as much fun for a wealthy boy. Thus images of children playing with tops illustrate the clothing styles of all strata of society. Children of modest means were likely to play with their tops at home or on neighborhood sidewalks. Available images of the children at play provide a good idea of everyday children's clothes. Children from wealthy families also played with their tops at home. They often also took them with them for outings to the park. Wealthy children were more likely to play with their hoops in parks than pooer children. Wealthy parents had more leisure time as well as the money to employ nannies and governesses to take the children. Thus an outing to the park was an often daily ritual wear nannies and governesses, their charges dully outfitted would sally out from the confines of the nursery. The clothes the children wore for these park outings were much more formal than what we would think of as play clothes today. Thus boys might be dressed in Fauntleroy suits or kilt outfits for outings to play with their tops. It certainly was not what modern children would consider appropriate playwear, but the children of the era seemed to have made do quite nicely.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: September 6, 1998
Last updated: 2:12 AM 2/10/2010