Current Exhibits

The silver screw-medal at the Mining and Gothic Museum dedicated to the Salzburg émigrés of 1731 and 1732 comes from the workshop of master craftsman Abraham Remshard in Augsburg.

The term ‘screw-medal’ refers to medal-like trinkets consisting of two parts threaded together. The production of screw-medals and screw-coins began in the late 16th century and continued until the first half of the 20th century.

Abraham Remshard’s workshop in Augsburg was one of the leading firms but screw-medals were also made in Vienna and Nuremberg.

Most of these objects produced after around 1730 are not only signed but contain valuable copper engravings, like the one at the Leogang Mining and Gothic Museum.

The front of the screw-medal shows an emigrating family in a landscape, with Salzburg’s mountains in the background. God the Father can be seen in the clouds overhead with a banner above him reading, ’Leave your Fatherland and friendship(s).’

On the reverse is King Frederick William I of Prussia receiving a delegation of Salzburg émigrés. Over this is another banner which reads, ‘The kings shall be your keepers.’ The coloured copper engravings inside the screw-medal show maps of Salzburg and Prussia as well as 17 scenes from the history of the Salzburg émigrés of 1731 and 1732.

A miner’s toolset was known as ‘Gezäh’ (Old High German for ‘gizawa’, meaning ‘succeed’). This was basically a mallet and chisel. With the mallet in one hand the miner would strike one of several different kinds of chisel held in the other to score or scrape the rock.

The miner would place iron pieces in the so-called ‘kerf’, the hole made by the impact, with smaller and larger wedges in between. The wedges would then be hit with a ‘Schlenkerhammer’ or club mallet until the stone cracked. Another miner would loosen the rock mass with an iron crowbar.

This was an extremely hard and tedious job. If the miners failed to make progress they would use the age-old method of fire-setting, whereby the rock was make brittle by exposing it to heat and dousing it in cold water.

At the end of the 17th century these millennia-old mining techniques were replaced by blasting with gunpowder. Now, deep holes would be drilled and sprinkled with gunpowder. The gunpowder would be compressed with a ramrod, a fuse inserted, the hole closed with sand or wooden pegs and then detonated.

In order to work underground, the miners needed a light source. Initially kindling was used. This created a lot of soot, so towards the end of the 18th century, ‘Frösche’ or ‘frogs’ (tallow and oil lamps) came along, which were later replaced by acetylene and carbide lamps.

Although the latter provided more brightness, they still had a naked flame which, with the combustible mine gases, ran the risk of causing a fatal explosion.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that gasoline lamps were introduced, which burned brightly enough and did not soot. The miner finally had adequate and safe lighting at his disposal.

Very close to where mining administrator, tourism pioneer and painter Michael Hofer worked lies the Grundbach estate.

This oil-on-cardboard painting by Hofer shows a classic Pinzgau farm with a brickwork lower and timbered upper storey. The larch shingles used for roofing at that time are easy to make out, as are the stones placed on the finished roof to secure it.

Once again, Michael Hofer proves he has a good eye for the beauties of nature and developing architecture of the Pinzgau farms.

The picture is the property of the Leogang Mining and Gothic Museum and signed ‘M. Hofer’ on the bottom left.