1 Osella - Alvise Mocenigo II

The osella was Venice's annual New Year's gift coin, distributed by the Doge to members of the Signoria in place of the live wildfowl — oselle — that had been the traditional gift since the early Republic. By Mocenigo II's dogeship, the practice was thoroughly institutionalized, with each year's issue carrying a unique reverse type that makes the series a near-complete visual chronicle of late Seicento and early Settecento Venetian political preoccupations. Gold strikings were reserved for presentation to the highest dignitaries; the standard issue circulated in silver.

1706 fell during the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Venice maintained its characteristic neutrality — a posture increasingly difficult to sustain as Habsburg and Bourbon forces maneuvered across northern Italy.