Etymology of "top notch"?

[CookingWithGas]

Today I told someone that their service was top notch.

What the hell did I mean?

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Don’t we wish we knew:

WorldWideWords

The problem is that the term appears in print for the first time in the 1840s already fully formed in its modern sense with nothing to point to where it comes from. The earliest example I’ve come across is in an advertisement in the Huron Reflector of Norwalk, Ohio, dated 29 April 1845, which is worth quoting for its period flavour:

J. WHYLER Has just arrived from the Great Emporium, with a Tremendous Cargo of Spring and Summer Goods, Which he is now unloading at his Old Stand in Norwalk—consisting of the choicest selections he ever made—the top notch of Fashions and Patterns—and an extensive variety of DRY GOODS, to suit his Old Customers and every other person who will give him a call.

The term becomes widely recorded in the later 1840s and early 1850s, suggesting that it had suddenly come into fashion, perhaps because of some incident or happening, though there’s nothing to show what that might have been. It seems clear enough that there was some sort of activity in which notches or notching played a part and in which reaching the top one was to be first-rate or the very best. But what that might have been is a mystery. A plausible idea is that it was a scoring system in some game; another is that it’s somehow related to lumberjacks, who would cut notches in bit trees and hammer in boards so they could climb to a height suitable to start felling.

[astro]

It’s a derivative of the Spanish phrase “Buenas Notches”. In the 18th Century there were regional competitions sponsored by various Spanish Grandees where men competed to climb a pole provided with cuts for foot gripping, with the aim of reaching the top notch. The reward for accomplishing this was typically a prize draft animal so competition was fierce. The ability to gain a foothold on these top excisions in the pole was so highly regarded that they became known as “Buenas Notches”, and this term is still in use today. This became “Top Notch” in the US, and was first used in advertisements for imported Spanish riding saddles

…nah I got nothin.

[groman]

Umm any sort of a physical scale be it a yard stick, weight scale, whatever will need to have equally spaced indications along it’s length. While in modern times we can just print those on, before the easiest way to mark it would be to make notches. Any kind of system of linear measurement of anything would have a top notch or the top mark. To me this is more obvious than say “top shelf liquor”.

[samclem]

I can find two more cites from the 1830’s. One says, in a long editorial about the horrors of the banking system,

Speculation is already running wild. Prices are up to the top notch.

This doesn’t help much, but is just another piece of the puzzle.

[Khadaji]

The Word Dectective says:

Maybe I’m just becoming jaded, but it’s been a long time since I’ve lost any sleep wondering about words. The last time, as I recall, it was over something the IRS said in one of those silly letters they like to send me. But I’m sure they were kidding. They can’t really put a lien on your dog, can they?

You folks have certainly come up with some creative theories about the source of “top notch,” which since about 1848 has meant “first rate” or simply “the best.” Unfortunately, none of the theories you propose matches what we do know about the source of “top notch” (which isn’t, however, very much). Evidently, the term “top notch” originated in some sort of game or competition where the score was kept by moving markers upward on a notched board or stick. The winner, presumably would be the one whose marker reached the top notch first, making “top notch” a fitting metaphor for “the best.” Ordinarily I’d apologize for the vagueness of that explanation, but it’s the best anyone can do today, and the fault really lies with the slackers back in 1848 who neglected to write down precisely what game they were playing.

As a sort of consolation prize (I do feel your frustration, I really do), allow me to offer the origin of another term for “the highest quality” or “first class,” namely “top drawer.” This term, which appeared in its figurative sense around 1900, refers to the top drawer in a bedroom dresser, where society folks usually kept their jewels and other valuables. “Top drawer” as an idiom first described people of high social standing (“Muffy’s beau Teddy is from a top drawer family”), but today is usually simply used to denote a thing or service considered the best of its kind.