Pulcheria Ae? What do you think?

Interesting. One's eye wants to see what it wants to see. I can sort of make out both [AE]L PVLCH and [AE]L EVDOC

I did, however, locate this coin attributed to Pulcheria. The PVLCH is somewhat more legible here. Of note.. It does have the aforementioned 'dots' on either side of Concordia.

I can't vouch for its authenticity; having been on auction offer on Catawiki. It could merely be a tooled creation.





EDIT: Here's one other that was sold on Forum some time back:

Pretty crude, but the PVLCH is fairly easy to discern here.

SRCV V 21259, LRBC II 2228 var.(star left)

 

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This is kind of weird, as I forgot all about it, but in 2007 Eric Suarez the author of Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins (ERIC) asked me to send him the coin and this is what he sent me back.

 

I think it reads ALEVDOC with a slightly bungled legend, a missing E, Retrograde D and a C that for whatever reason looks more Medieval in style than ancient. The legend looks nothing like my Pulcheria, Which reads AELPVLCH.

Ras could be right, and the legend could be way, way more seriously bungled than some barbaric imitations, but I would not expect that level of incompetence from the mint at Constantinople. I really hate to type this next bit. I have known Ras from yahoo email groups in the long ago before times. I considered him a dear friend, and respect his expertise, but this time, I think he got it wrong. Sorry, Ras.

I would continue to find as many different images of the two coins as possible and make more direct comparisons. Maybe you will find a match that Ras is talking about proving Pulcheria, or maybe you'll find a match for Eudocia.

While doing that, i would also keep a tally of hard stats where available, such as average diameter and weight, between the two issues. It seems as though one emperess' coins may be consistently smaller and lighter. It was a time of uber inflation, and if there is a significant size/weight difference, that may help tip the scales.