TYPE Byzantine Empire, Leo IV Khazar (775-780 AD), bronze follis, Constantinople mint, struck 776-8 AD. DESCRIPTION . Obv: Leo IV, on left, and Constantine VI on right, each wearing crown and chlamys, seated facing on double throne, cross between them Rev: Busts of Leo III and Constantine V bearded, facing, each wearing crown and loros; below them horizontal bar with large M (A below) flanked by X - N REFERENCE: SB 1587, DO 6 GRADING: VF+, dark green patina, some earthen encrustation ORDER INFO: B3034, $135 Scarce ruler and issue. Interesting design featuring 4 different generations of Isaurian dynasts. Leo's mother, a Khazar princess, gave him the nickname, but his "fame" comes by association with another woman - his wife, empress Irene. She long survived him and ruled - covertly, overtly, and often ruthlessly - for over a quarter century altogether, deposing her own son (Constantine VI) in the process, finally to be deposed by a palace coup and banished to the island of Lesbos in 802.