Silver collector coin of the National Bank of Slovakia designed by Mgr. art. Roman Lugár commemorating the 300th anniversary of Jozef Karol Hell – a noted Slovak mining engineer and inventor. Two of his inventions – a water pumping machine and an even more efficient „LUFT-Maschine“, i.e. air puming machine – secured Hell a firm place in the world history of technology. He also construed equipment for air cleaning in mines and blowing of fresh air to great depths. All these revolutionary devices markedly improved working conditions of miners in Banská Štiavnica.
The coin mirrors his inventions as well as the environment to which they relate. On the obverse side the author placed the motif of New Castle, the dominating feature of Banská Štiavnica; below we can see a mine with wooden structures, water and pumping duct. The composition is complemented with lizards symbolizing a legend which is attached to the discovery of gold and silver, and the beginning of their extraction in Banská Štiavnica and the vicinity. The reverse side of the coin is dominated by a rock arm of the pumping machine; the denomination of the coin – 10 euro – is placed above, while the town’s oldest coat-of-arms and the inventor’s dates of birth and death are below.