I have always
had trouble distinguishing
Sear 1531, which he attributes to
Leo III, and
Sear 1568, which he attributes to
Constantine V.
Both coins have an image of Leo on one
side (with LEON on the left) and
Constantine on the other (with K
NS on the left). On the
Leo III coin, it is
Leo III, and on the
Constantine V coin, it is
Leo IV.
Both coins are supposed to show the two figures dressed in
chlamys and holding
akakia.
The
Leo III coin shows 
C
to the right of both emperors.
The
Constantine V coin shows C
to the right of
Constantine, but NEOV to the right of
Leo IV.
So it seems that the easiest way to distinguish the two
types is to see if there is a
C
on the LEON
side. If so, it has to be
Leo III, right?
There is supposedly another way to tell the two coins apart, but in practice I think it is virtually impossible. On the
Leo III coin, Leo is bearded and
Constantine is not. On the
Constantine V coin,
Constantine is bearded and Leo is not. Personally I cannot see a beard on any of the emperors.
In any case, I have two coins. Both seem to have
C
on the LEON
side, so I think they might both be
Leo III. However, the styles are radically different - worlds apart, starting with the lettering. And on the larger coin that does not look like a
chlamys to me. If it is supposed to be a
chlamys, it does not look anything like the
chlamys on the smaller coin. And it looks to me like both emperors on the larger coin are holding a
cross rather than the cylindrical
chlamys.
I know that I have a habit of seeing things when looking at the photos
but do my eyes deceive me here? What do I have here?
[Update: I have updated with a better photo taken in natural light].
