An ad for cast iron roman numerals from one to twelve with fixing spigots, stripped of paint, was recently placed on SalvoWEB by Silbury Antiques of Wiltshire (see photo). The numerals would have been enamelled or painted white and were part of a wooden boxed set of clock golf made by English Victorian lawn sports companies such as Jaques and Lilywhite for sale around the world.
 
The game was played by digging a putting hole and setting out the clock around the hole, not necessarily centrally located, in a small circle for children up to 40ft diameter. Contestants either had to putt individually a single shot from each numeral to the hole, or as a team with multiple strokes, and either scored one point for each hole-in-one which they successfully putted, or winning with least strokes for the multiple version.
 
The Jaques rules were:

Setting up
Any shape of lawn is suitable, and any obstacles, such as shrubs, can be played around and merely make the game more interesting. The numbers are pegged into the ground in a circle adaptating to the space available. A flag and cup is fitted near the centre of the lawn, but offset to one side a little to make some holes longer, and some holes shorter. Tap the cup onto the lawn to mark a ring for guidance, and use a trowel to cut out the hole. Take care not to cut the hole too large or too deep.
 
Play
If there are four players, the game can be one pair against the other, taking turns. However, any number can play, each player scoring for him or herself. Toss a coin to start; first putt is from number 1 to the hole, players take alternate putts and first to hole out wins the hole. The player whose turn is next has the first putt from the next number and so on until all 12 holes have been played. The winner is the player or pair winning most holes. A tied game is decided on a sudden death basis, by the winner of the first extra hole to be won outright; i.e. by the player taking fewer strokes on a hole than any other player.
 
An alternate method of scoring is to add up the cumulative total of strokes each player has in the game. A game would normally consist of the best of 5 games.

Clock golf with numerals was probably the formal version of a similar lawn game played using simple markers around a circle without the use of numerals. Jaques made the point that the advantage of Clock Golf over other putting games is that only one hole needs to be cut in the lawn, and on the wooden box a label states 'Clock Golf - A new game for the lawn - Interesting to golfers and a most popular amusement at garden parties - John Jaques & Son Ltd 102 Hatton Gardens London'. Clock golf by Jaques London seems to still be available new.