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!
1 Osella - Giovanni Corner II
| Issuer | Republic of Venice |
|---|---|
| Year | 1713 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Round |
| 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 | The winged Lion of Saint Mark, the heraldic symbol of the Evangelist and of the Venetian Republic, occupies the central field in full frontal display, with wings spread and a radiant nimbus encircling its crowned head. The lion holds before it a cartouche bearing the inscription PAX TIBI MAR-CE MEV in three lines, referencing the traditional Venetian motto. Below the lion's forelegs, the engraver's initials CB appear flanked by small ornaments near the lower rim. The circumferential legend S·MARCVS VENETVS· runs along the upper and lateral border in incuse Latin characters. The overall composition reflects the refined baroque medallic style characteristic of the Venetian Zecca in the early eighteenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | S:MARCVS VENETVS· PAX·TI MAR·CE· MEV· ·CB· |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The osella was Venice's ceremonial new-year gift coin, distributed by the doge to members of the Signoria beginning in 1521 as a substitute for the live wildfowl — uccelli, hence the name — previously handed out from the ducal hunting grounds on the lagoon. By Corner's dogeship the tradition was over a century and a half old, and each doge commissioned a distinct type annually, making the series a de facto yearly medallic chronicle of the late Republic. Giovanni Corner II reigned from 1709 until his death in 1722, and this 1713 issue falls during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Venice was maintaining its precarious neutrality while the major powers carved up Habsburg territory around it.