The osella was an annual silver presentation piece issued by the Venetian doge as a substitute for the live birds (uccelli) once distributed to members of the Great Council each January — a custom formalized under Doge Leonardo Loredan in the early sixteenth century. Paolo Renier, elected doge in 1779, was the second-to-last man to hold that office; the Republic fell to Napoleon in 1797. Each year's osella carried a unique reverse type, making the annual sequence a de facto medallic chronicle of the final dogate.
CNI VIII remains the standard reference for attributing die varieties within this series.
The osella was an annual silver presentation piece issued by the Venetian doge as a substitute for the live birds (uccelli) once distributed to members of the Great Council each January — a custom formalized under Doge Leonardo Loredan in the early sixteenth century. Paolo Renier, elected doge in 1779, was the second-to-last man to hold that office; the Republic fell to Napoleon in 1797. Each year's osella carried a unique reverse type, making the annual sequence a de facto medallic chronicle of the final dogate.
CNI VIII remains the standard reference for attributing die varieties within this series.