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.
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.