Strauss & co - 4 February 2013, Johannesburg

183 An important Cape silver presentation covered cup, John Townsend, circa 1830 of baluster outline, engraved with an image of the Machtenburg Gardens and the Lodge building, titled MACHTENBURG SOCIETY, the reverse engraved with four golfers dressed in top hats and tail coats within a rectangular playing field bordered by trees and buildings, titled GOLF GROUND, the bell-shaped cover engraved THIS CUPWAS PRESENTED by JOSEPH DAY, TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MACHTENBURG SOCIETY ON THE 13TH FEBRUARY 1830, raised on a stepped domed circular foot, gilt interior, 570g, 21,5cmhigh R250 000 – 300 000 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. 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 76