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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 4799509, member: 44316&quot;]Leo III&#039;s reign started in 717. The first emperor to put Christ on a coin was Justinian II who had two reigns, 685-695 with a gold solidus with the bust of Christ facing (and a similar silver piece), and 705-711 with another solidus with the bust of Christ facing in a completely different portrait (They certainly don&#039;t look at all like the same person. I have none to show.) Prior to Justinian II there were (poor) imperial portraits and tons of crosses and religious symbols, but no images of Christ, Mary, or saints. Looking at Sear&#039;s book I don&#039;t see pictures of Christ, Mary, or saints before Leo III other than those of Justinian II.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, by definition, iconoclasts did not want images of Christ. So, they did not appear on coins of Leo III. (Maybe he felt people worshipped money enough even without having the image of Christ on it!)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1165546[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Leo III, 717- 741, with Constantine V from 720.</p><p>24 mm. 7.81 grams</p><p>His bust facing holding globus cruciger (a religious symbol)</p><p>Small bust of Constantine V over horizontal line with large M below,</p><p>ANN down its left, XX down its right (much is very weak)</p><p>dN CONSTANTINVS M</p><p>Sear 1514</p><p>DOC 3.1 Class 2, #29, &quot;720-c.721&quot;</p><p>Grierson 672. Berk 838.</p><p><br /></p><p>AE coins of Leo III are almost always poorly struck and in poor shape. This one is pretty good &quot;for type.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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