25 Zecchini - Giovanni Corner II

Giovanni Corner II served as Doge from 1709 to 1722, a tenure that overlapped almost precisely with the War of the Spanish Succession and Venice's increasingly desperate efforts to maintain neutrality while its eastern territories were being gnawed away by the Ottomans. The 25 Zecchini was among the largest gold multiples struck by the Serenissima, issued more for ceremonial presentation and diplomatic gift-giving than for any practical circulation — pieces of this denomination rarely passed through ordinary hands.

Corner's dogeship also coincided with the plague epidemic of 1709–1710, which killed roughly a quarter of Venice's remaining population and strained the mint's operations considerably.