An American man, Jack Vulcani, spent several months panning gold by hand in Colorado's rivers to craft an engagement ring for his girlfriend, infohub.kz reports.
He decided to make the jewelry himself and patiently collected the precious metal grain by grain from local waterways. Once he had gathered enough gold flakes, he turned to a jeweler to have them cast into a finished ring.
The craftsman took on the unusual order with enthusiasm, though he had never before made a piece from river gold mined by a client. The jeweler melted down the particles, poured the metal into a mold and gave the ring its finished form.
Vulcani kept the whole project a strict secret from his beloved Joanna. When the work was done, he invited her on a walk and showed her a video recording of him panning the ore in the rivers. At first she did not grasp what the footage meant, but then he proposed and presented the ring.
The metal he collected turned out to be enough to cast not only the ring for his bride-to-be but also a second wedding band for the groom himself. Joanna said yes, noting that the gesture confirmed she had chosen the right life partner.