2 Zlotys Szwoleżer Gwardii Cesarza Napoleona I

This piece belongs to Poland's long-running Nordic Gold 2 Złote collector series, which the NBP has issued since 1995 to commemorate historical and cultural subjects inaccessible to everyday circulation coinage. The subject here — the Chevau-légers de la Garde Impériale — was a Polish light cavalry regiment raised in 1807 from among Napoleon's most ardent supporters in the newly established Duchy of Warsaw. Their charge at Somosierra in November 1808, where three successive squadrons broke a Spanish artillery position defending the mountain pass into Madrid, became one of the most celebrated — and debated — cavalry actions of the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleon reportedly watched the charge himself and ordered it personally, against the advice of his staff.