The knighthood was not hereditary, with the only exceptions of the descendants of count Giacomo Zanotto, nominated Cavaliere di San Marco for the role played in the Battle of Lepanto by the doge Alvise I Mocenigo with diploma on December 16, 1571 "with benefit transmissible to all its legitimate descendants in perpetuity" and the descendants of Benedetto Quirini in 1597, awarded the Order for his great merits during the famine and plague that struck the Kingdom of Candia in 1590 and 1592.

Furthermore, in 1769 Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo conferred, in perpetuity, the title of Knight of Saint Mark also to the Most Reverend Canons of the Venerable Chapter of the Cathedral of Treviso.

The insignia of the order, when granted by the Doge as a "public and honorable mark for actions of marked value" and reserved for "low officers and soldiers", was a bifurcated cross enamelled in white and blue with the Lion of Saint Mark "in majesty"[4] in the center, suspended around the neck by a gold chain,[3][5] and was granted either in the gold class (which gave the right to an extra one-month pay yearly bonus) or in the silver one (with a half-month pay bonus).

When it was instead granted by the Great Council or the Senate, in addition to the cross, a gold medal was also used depicting the winged lion of Saint Mark on the recto and on the reverse a dedication inscription, hanging on a more elaborate gold necklace, often to the value of thousands of Venetian ducats.

[3][6] However, the use of the golden stole by the patricians did not necessarily indicate the conferment of the Order of Saint Mark, as it was also used as a distinction for the knighthoods given by foreign princes and sovereigns to the ambassadors of the Most Serene Republic and recognized by the Venetian government upon their return to Venice.