A comparative analysis of three experiments on held electron emission from microstructured cesiated surfaces is presented. In this context, the term "cesiated surface" implies generally any coverage of cesium on a metallic substrate, while the term "microstructure" includes the intrinsic microstructure of any solid substrate as well as the induced microstructure of the liquid cesium coverage due to electrohydrodynamic effects. These experiments concern a thin-film held-emission microcathode, a single pin-and-tube-type liquid metal electron source, and a large-area microstructured liquid metal electron source. The electron sources are compared by their emission characteristics and the resulting Fowler-Nordheim plots. The existence of both a stable and unstable field-emission mode from microstructured cesiated surfaces had been proven. Whether the first mode is of importance to vacuum microelectronics is a question which needs further investigation; the second mode seems to be of importance for regenerative and indestructible field electron sources with possible applications in pulsed power technology.