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Gold from the Drava River in jewelry from the Dravagold brand
SOURCE: https://www.rtvslo.si/radiomaribor/zgodbe/zlato-iz-drave-v-nakitu-blagovne-znamke-dravagold/546478
Golden scales from the Drava River connect a hydro engineer and a jewelry designer
Stories about gold finds in the Drava alluvium date back to the sixth century BC. Interesting and even surprising for today's conditions is the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century, around 200 panners were panning for gold on the Drava. This year, Starše, with the help of European money, began reviving the story of the gold miners, and the gold began to be panned as part of the Golden Drava project. The hydraulic engineer and Sašo Šantl and renowned jewelry designer Srecko Molk, who captured the gold scales into beautiful pieces of jewelry.
The primary deposits of gold, which was washed out and deposited in the Drava riverbed over long geological periods, are in the Austrian Tures. There are quartz veins with gold, several hundred meters long. Gold particles most often accumulate in the lower, calmer parts of the rivers and in the inner parts of the river meanders, says hydroengineer Sašo Šantl from Medvode: "The tributaries of the Drava River, along with other gravel, also carry gold flakes. This can be delayed for a while, even for a few thousand years, and then the river carries it on... Gold is present in the Drava because the primary rocks already contain gold."
243 years ago, Empress Maria Theresa granted a permanent license to numerous gold panners, including those along the Drava and Mura rivers, for this activity, which, according to records, was carried out by around 200 panners along the Drava alone. Drava gold flakes are about three-quarters of a millimeter in diameter, although even 3-millimeter ones have been found. Approximately a cubic meter of Drava gravel must be washed to obtain one gram of gold.
The Drava and its golden scales connected hydro engineer Saša Šantl and jewelry designer Srečko Molko from Ptuj. He says his last name is pronounced "molk", but in writing it fits perfectly with the famous proverb "silence is golden", he was poisoned by the Drava: "That immediately attracted me. The basis of my work is wood, and this gold also comes from nature. When I first saw the gold flakes on the excavated shovel, I was thrilled."
In the Drava Gold collection, other Drava minerals, such as garnet and magnetite, are associated with various types of wood, including oak, which was part of a wine barrel that was more than 60 years old, says Srečko Molk: "Years ago, I got these oak barrels from the Ptuj Wine Cellar, they are between 60 and 70 years old. Oak is basically yellowish in color, but in this case, the front part of the barrel is doweled with metal dowels. When the moisture and wine seeps into these cracks, the wood patinas, which gives it a special black color and in these places you can beautifully emphasize this sprinkled gold."
One day of rinsing is not enough for one bracelet
For just under a thousand flakes, four hundred shovels of the purest gold have to be turned - for one bracelet: one such bracelet contains 1,000 lights or 120 milligrams. Designer of unique wooden jewelry Srečko Molk, who collaborates with fashion designers at home and abroad, says that during the epidemic she is dedicating herself to creating a collection - Dravagold, each bracelet is a story in itself, and interest in this unique jewelry is growing.
The collection is also connected to the planning of the Zlatokop Experience as an additional tourist and educational offer along the Drava River, and as Sašo Šantl says, there is interest in upgrading artistic creation.
More in the article:
Natasha Kuhar
SOURCE: https://www.rtvslo.si/radiomaribor/zgodbe/zlato-iz-drave-v-nakitu-blagovne-znamke-dravagold/546478
