Peg top Shapes

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WESTERN ANTIQUE PEG

TOPS.

THEIR SHAPE AND THEIR PEGS.

In England there was a variety of styles of peg top in the older days (yes even before my time!!) Peg tops are those that are generally pear shaped with a metal spike in the narrow end upon which the top spun. The pegs were long or short and the sizes and shapes of the tops varied from area to area in England. The top is wound around with string from the peg upwards, then thrown (or cast) to the ground, with (in my case) a rather straight arm motion. I have to resist jerking it backwards at the very last second to give it extra momentum... it is a skill that the best casters have, but not me.

Peg tops are quite fascinating in the variety of their shapes. Even though Gould shows us X-Rays of the pegs, and incidentally a variety of shapes also, it was not until I tried to identify the shapes of the names of English peg tops, that I took an interest in their shape.

I am writing this page in an effort to discover persons who remember their English childhood peg tops, and the locality name for it, and of course, the shape of their locality top.

Please email me, or write to me if you can contribute to this discussion. As it stands I have a list of names of English peg tops, but want to put shapes or pictures to the names. I am very afraid that this information may disappear from English local history if we do not tap the current older generation.

Please ask you Mums, Dads, grandparents or other oldies about what they remember. Will you please?

Here then is the list of English peg top names.

Iona and Peter Opie record the following about the size and shape of tops in different parts of England. (Children's Games with things. 1997. OUP. Oxford and New York) p313

Big been -Derbyshire (1905) A large whip top

Birken- a top made from Birch wood.

boxer - a whipping or peg top made from box wood.

Carrot top- a whipping tip made in the shape of a dumpy carrot or bullet shaped.

Castle top, a top with the top shaped like a castle (but this is a somewhat obscure description)

Mushroom top- a squat whipping top.

Colchester top- a more squat form of the mushroom top a local variety of top that preceded the mushroom top.

dummy- similar to a carrot top. Perhaps like a dum dum bullet.

farther-kicker - like a mushroom top.

gig- a hollow top, perhaps made from horn 15th C onwards

granny- the same shape as the carrot

horney top- made from the tip pf a horn

jinny spinner- like the carrot top (Penrith 1957)

Monkey top- like the mushroom (London 1908)

peerie-pirie or pear- Scottish for peg tops

racing top or racer- same as the mushroom

scopperil- made from a button

scourge tops-(Poole Dorset)

Spanish peg top short rounded wooden point for a peg, not metal.

totum- a top made from a reel

turnip top - shaped like a turnip with a knob on the top (these are what I remember)

window breaker- mushroom shaped.

Village top. A very large whipping top. (say 8 inches tall)

OK, Yes I know that these are not all peg tops, but they all need to be here to help sort out their types.

I have collected a number of peg top shapes from various books and pictures. They are not a complete inventory and I have had to draw them for the sake of copyright issues.( I am sorry that I am not much of an artist!)

Please have a look at them.

SOME SHAPES OF WESTERN ANTIQUE PEG TOPS.

I really do not know how to start to describe them. I think I can see some carrots (!) amongst them, and may be a mushroom. I will go through them and make comments but please drop me a note with your comments, I am "swimming in treacle".

Numbered from left to right and top to bottom. I had to take the numbers out as they would not up load!! Sorry!

1. Is this pear shape? I think it would be a thin pear if it was so described. I would imagine that this top would not spin too fast as the lower winding are very narrow (low gear?) It has a high CoG and would need to spin well to keep upright for any reasonable length of time. It might be a good top to use for knocking your opponents top out of the ring. What do you think?

2. This is a good standard peg top shape. Not much I can say about this except that is our stereotype for a peg top.

3. Could this be the Dummy shape? It could look something like a dum dum bullet. It is a good solid top and would spin quite well.

4. I would have to call this a "balloon" top, don't you think? It has a large spike and I would suggest that it was used to "spike" your opponents top. Hard to spin I would think. I would find it hard to wind the string around that shape.

5. I do not know what shape you would call this? It is pleasing and the splay at the top would make it fairly stable. It is another long spike top, essentially for spiking your opponents top. Is it a "squat mushroom"? I do not think so.

6. Here is a nice pear shape along classical lines.

7. I would have to call this a "mushroom" top. It would be a nice steady spinner I think. The wide brim would work well to "spin" another top out of the ring.

8. Yes, a carrot top.

9. Whilst it is a type of carrot top it seems a bit substantial to fully qualify for that description.

10. Another carrot top.

11. Perhaps a type of balloon top.

12. What about a tennis racquet shape?

13. This seems a reasonably typical peg top shape.

Well, I do not think that I have done too well on that exercise.

Let us have a look at the pegs, and for this I am grateful to the Gould book. ( I have written to them many times for permission to use some images, but they have never replied.)

Those peg tops with long metal pegs are best for games. The short metal pegs were the best sleepers. Each could be used to advantage for different games. The one on the bottom left is a Spanish peg top and has a wooden peg. I love the variety of metal spikes, from drawing pins to nails.

Well, the next thing is to look at some pictures of peg tops. For these I have used (with their permission) some images from the book, Tops and Yo Yos and other spinning toys. Still in print L-W Book Sales. Yu will find them on the web and i think you can buy it from eBay (often copies offered their) or Amazons on line book store.

These are all thumb nailed images. Click on them for a larger picture.