1 Soldo - Alvise Contarini

Alvise Contarini served as Doge from 1676 to 1684, a period dominated by the catastrophic loss of Crete to the Ottomans — the island had finally fallen in 1669 after a 21-year siege, the longest in early modern European history. The small copper soldo circulating under his reign did so in a Venice adjusting to a fundamentally diminished Adriatic empire, its eastern trade network permanently contracted.

Copper soldini of this period are frequently found heavily worn or corroded, having served the lowest tier of daily commerce in the lagoon markets.