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Important Cape Silver presentation covered cup, John Townsend, circa 1830

3 Jan 2013

The gentlemen in the engraved view are playing ‘kolf’, a centuries old game which originated in the Netherlands and was particularly popular there in the late 18th
and 19th centuries. The kolf course has a wooden post positioned at each end and the aim of the game is to hit the post at the far end, striking the ball with your club from the opposite post, return the ball to the post from which you started and then again strike it towards the far end. This had to be done in three strokes.
Kolf is tied to the development of golf and it is probable that in the Cape in the 1830s the name ‘kolf’ had been anglicised by the English speaking community to golf, thus the inscription ‘GOLF GROUND’. Joseph Day was a haberdasher in Plein Street, Cape Town. He, in partnership with the Baron Von Ludwig and Matthew
Donough, purchased the Machtenburg Gardens, situated in LooYers Plein, in 1830. The purchase included the Masonic Lodge, De Goede Trouw, with its avenue of trees depicted on the front of the cup. Baron Von Ludwig housed his vast collection of natural history specimens in part of the Lodge, thus establishing the fi rst
known museum at the Cape. In 1839 the gardens and Lodge was sold to the Catholic community who celebrated their fi rst service there.the inscription ‘GOLF GROUND’. Joseph Day was a haberdasher in Plein Street, Cape Town. He, in partnership with the Baron Von Ludwig and Matthew Donough, purchased the Machtenburg Gardens, situated in LooYers Plein, in 1830. The purchase included the Masonic Lodge, De Goede Trouw, with its avenue of trees depicted on the front of the cup. Baron Von Ludwig housed his vast collection of natural history specimens in part of the Lodge, thus establishing the first known museum at the Cape. In 1839 the gardens and Lodge was sold to the Catholic community who celebrated their first service there.