The “Selmeci Impossible Bottle” was named after the town where it was made, formerly called Selmecbánya, present-day Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia. Property of the Museum of the Hungarian Petroleum Industry, it stands just 20cm high with a 12cm×10cm profile.
Made in the style of Petrus Czinkraut, this three-hundred-year-old piece depicts scenes of the precious mineral mining industry. The three-storied scene shows contemporary tools and scenes of the mining industry including various minerals: quartz, calcite, gypsum, chalcopyrite, argentite and marcasite. Quite possibly, the oldest impossible bottle mining scene in Europe; the date of completion is visible as 22 February 1737.

Sources: “Mining in a bottle” István Benke – Peter Huber (Bergmannische Geduldflaschen); “Hungary’s Mining in Impossible Bottles” (Bergbauflaschen aus Ungarischen Sammlungen); Museum of the Hungarian Petroleum Industry – Ore and Mineral Mining Foundation, Zalaegerszeg 2006