Selmec: Difference between revisions

The Hungarian [[clay]] pipe is famous.  The illustration is a 19th Cent. example with the seal of the town of Selmec on the front.  The seal represents two salamanders which legend tells us led residences to the gold deposits. Hammer and pick are also represented.  These clays represent an entirely different clay pipe tradition from the English clay pipes.  These shapes are based on Turkish clay pipes which entered Europe from the East.

[[File:Selmec.jpg|thumb|left|Selmec Clay, courtesy Geoffrey Mogilner, [http://www.racineandlaramie.com/ Racine & Laramie Tobacconist]]]

[[File:Selmic1.jpg|thumb|Seal detail, courtesy Geoffrey Mogilner, [http://www.racineandlaramie.com/ Racine & Laramie Tobacconist]]]

 

After 1663 the Austrian Emperor Leopold called upon the estates of the realm to assist in defending Vienna against the Turks.

Papal pressure demanded that the support of French mercenaries also had to be accepted and the great Hungarian noblemen Ferenc Nadasdy, Miklos Zrinyi, Adam Batthiany and Miklos Berceseni,vice-captain of the mining district, recruited large numbers of soldiers against the Turks as well. The French soldiers of Souches, the German and Spanish mercenaries of the Imperial Army and the Hungarian cavalry were often to be seen at Nyitra, Leva, Fulek and Selmec. Now the inhabitants of royal Northern Hungary learnt of pipe smolking from the soldiers at the time of the incursions of the highlands. Judging by the shape of the pipes it is from this period that the beginning of pipe- making in Selmec can be dated.

* Reference: “Our Pipe Smoking Forebears” by Ferenc Levardy

[[Category:Pipe makers by nationality]]

[[Category:Hungary]]