Władysław IV Vasa, king from 1632 to 1648, spent much of his reign attempting to reclaim the Swedish throne his father Sigismund III had lost — a dynastic obsession that repeatedly entangled Poland in costly northern wars. He was, by most accounts, a more pragmatic ruler than Sigismund, quietly tolerant of religious minorities at a moment when confessional violence was consuming much of Europe.
This issue belongs to the NBP's long-running "History of Polish Coinage" gold series, which has systematically worked through medieval and early modern rulers since the 1990s. The two-ounce format places it firmly in the collector bullion tier rather than anything approaching circulation.
Władysław IV Vasa, king from 1632 to 1648, spent much of his reign attempting to reclaim the Swedish throne his father Sigismund III had lost — a dynastic obsession that repeatedly entangled Poland in costly northern wars. He was, by most accounts, a more pragmatic ruler than Sigismund, quietly tolerant of religious minorities at a moment when confessional violence was consuming much of Europe.
This issue belongs to the NBP's long-running "History of Polish Coinage" gold series, which has systematically worked through medieval and early modern rulers since the 1990s. The two-ounce format places it firmly in the collector bullion tier rather than anything approaching circulation.