In 1890 Eduard Lippert bought part of the farm Braamfontein and renovated the farmhouse for himself and his wife, Marie, naming it Marienhof after her death in 1893. Advised by the forester Genth, Lippert developed a plantation called the Sachsenwald to supply timber to the mines. The Pro-Boer Lippert obtained the Dynamite Concession, a monopoly which was often cited by the Uitlanders as a cause of the war. He later assisted the Boers in buying guns from Germany. Lippert left the Transvaal on the outbreak of war and never returned.