Atomic Tippe Top: A Sixth Birthday Special by Arto

The Atomic Tippe Top from Finland

by Arto

In the beginning of the 1950's, a Finnish company Caduceus brought together Atomic Age and toys in the form of a rediscovered mystery gadget, the tippe top. Although an ancient invention, patented in its basic form as early as 1891, the tippe top became popular in 1950 when it was invented anew by Danish engineer Werner Østberg. 


The tippe top craze then took off as the toy made its way at least in the Netherlands, the U.S. (as a cereal premium), Canada, and in the UK, where it was sold in 1953 by the British Indoors Pastimes Company.

 source: YLE / Elävä arkisto

However, I believe it was only Finland that likened tippe top's innocuous form to an atomic mushroom cloud. Pictured here is a shop counter box of 25 of this rare toy, made in part of marbled plastic, with its name stamped both in Finnish and Swedish. Despite of its durability, even loose examples have proven to be few and far between, indicating the atomic tippe top boom was short-lived.

In this newsreel clip from 1953, a Finnish politician and MSc. Tech. Max Sergelius tries to solve the mystery of the tippe top (it lies in the divergence of the top's point of contact from its centre of mass) which, according to the narrator, "has caught attention especially in Scandinavia." - - "The Atomic Tippe Top is not of interest for scientists and adults only, as children too have found it as their favourite pastime and object of wonder".