Spinning Top

Spinning top. Convex disk of volcanic stone, pierced through center (for spindle). Collected by A. C. Haddon, leader of the Cambridge University expedition to the Torres Straits in 1898-1899. According to the catalogue of the collection from that expedition, "A recreation that appears to have been confined to Mer [an island in the Straits] and practied only by senior men was the competitive spinning of large stone tops (kolap), often decorated with ochres, with a spindle of hard black palm wood."