Botrivier, Goedvertrouw

Abstract

The estate Goedvertrouw on the van der Stel Pass leading to the town of Botrivier, is home to a very uncommon type of bell. The maker's name does not appear on the bell itself, as is usually done with bronze bells, but on the yoke from which the bell is hung. The bell has suffered severely from hanging outside. As a result, a number of letters have faded. Fortunately, we found a “clean” copy of a similar bell on the internet. This helped to reconstruct the text on the yoke: THE GOULDS M’F’G CO, SENECA FALLS N.Y. where a letter A appears in the middle. The company to which these inscriptions refer is situated in Seneca Falls in the US-state of New York where it started in 1848. It specialized in industrial pumps. Between 1887 and 1890 Goulds MFG got involved in the casting of iron bells. A number of these products appear on websites, most commonly on lists of auctions.