Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Zlotys The Polish Thermopylae – Zadwórze
| Issuer | Mint of Poland (Mennica Polska) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2017 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central left field features a high-relief bust of Konstanty Zarugiewicz facing slightly right, depicted wearing a military field cap and uniform of the Polish Army circa 1920. To the right of the portrait, a decorative military cross — the Virtuti Militari order — is shown in detail with its distinctive cross pattée form and central medallion. The inscription 'ZADWÓRZE / 17 VIII / 1920' arcs across the upper field in three lines, commemorating the date of the Battle of Zadwórze. The name 'KONSTANTY ZARUGIEWICZ' is inscribed in a curved legend along the lower portion of the field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 2017 MW - Proof - 18,000 |
| Additional information |
Zadwórze, August 1920. A company of roughly 330 Polish soldiers — mostly student volunteers from Lwów — held a rearguard position against a Bolshevik cavalry force estimated at several thousand, buying enough time for the main Polish withdrawal to succeed. Nearly all of them died. The engagement occurred during the broader Battle of Warsaw, the same offensive that stopped the Red Army's westward advance and which some historians argue prevented Soviet expansion into Central Europe.
The "Polish Thermopylae" comparison was applied almost immediately after the battle, coined by contemporaries who knew their classics.