Strauss & co - Review 2012

A Cape silver presentation covered cup, John Townsend, first quarter 19th century R250 000 – 300 000 ‘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 planted 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 first known museum at the Cape. In 1839 the gardens and Lodge was sold to the Catholic community, who celebrated their first service there.’ Stephan Welz 67