Silver spinning top which may have been worn from the belt for a long time as testified by the worn out hole in its ‘stem’. The bottom of the spinning top is decorated with the Ba Gua or Pa Kua (Eight trigrams) each consisting of three lines, either ‘broken’ or ‘unbroken’, which were used in Taoist cosmology. Every trigram has a meaning for instance Heaven (天 Tiân), Lake (澤(泽 Zé), Fire (火 Huǒ), Thunder (雷 Léi), Wind (風(风 Fēng), Water (水 Shuǐ), Mountain (山 Shān) and Earth (地 Dì). Inside the Ba Gua is an almost worn away Yin Yang symbol consisting of two fish-like creatures. Yin and Yang represent opposite forces which are actually complementary and inside the Ba Gua they represent a balance in Feng shui. The top part is embossed with butterflies and plum flowers. A plum flower with its five petals symbolizes the ‘Five Blessings’, Old age, Health, Wealth, Love of Virtue and a Peaceful death. The butterflies represent Blessings and Happiness. On the sides are the characters ‘Chang Ming Fu Gui’ (长命富贵) meaning ‘Longevity, Wealth and Honor’ and ‘Bai Zi Qian Sun’ (百子千孙) which means ‘Hundreds of children and Thousands of grandchildren’. The spinning top dates from the Qing period (1644 – 1912). Height 3.5 cm.