1930s Venice Souvenir Token
The Lion of Saint Mark has been the emblem of Venice for over 1000 years, and during that time the Adriatic lagoon-city has experienced one of the wildest rise-and-fall arcs in all of history. The bones of Saint Mark the Evangelist have been held in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice since they were stolen Alexandria in 828 AD by two Venetian merchants. But this is where the story takes an unexpected turn: are the remains held in the Tomb of Saint Mark (completed in 1094 AD) actually those of Alexander the Great? Andrew Chugg sets out a rather interesting argument:
"In a 2011 episode of the National Geographic Channel television series Mystery Files, Andrew Chugg claimed that Alexander the Great's body was rebranded into Saint Mark the Evangelist and the tomb turned into a church by 392 AD to both save his remains and tomb while also christanizing them. The remains were then stolen from Alexandria, Egypt, in 828 AD by Venetian merchants who believed it to be that of Saint Mark the Evangelist, as the Caliph Al-Ma'mun had ordered the demolition of the church in order to recover building materials for new mosques. The merchants smuggled the remains to Venice, where they were then venerated as Saint Mark the Evangelist in St Mark's Basilica. In an article in the Egyptology journal Kmt (fall 2020), Chugg showed that a 3rd century BC fragment of a high status Macedonian tomb found embedded in the foundations of St Mark's Basilica in Venice in 1960 is an exact fit as part of a tomb-casing for the Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II in the British Museum, which was long venerated in Alexandria as Alexander's tomb." [source: wikipedia.org]
This pendant was presumably made as a souvenir for visitors to the city in the 1930s. It features the Lion of Saint Mark along with the word VENEZIA on the front, and the Palace of the Doge on the back with lovely texturing and a studded border.
Era: Vintage, circa 1930
Size: 3.4cm (including bail) by 2.3cm
Marks: None, tested as base metal
Condition: Good; wear consistent with age and use.
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[Last updated: 28th February 2026]
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