A coin from out of this world

Great coin in the OP! I still need one of those...

My Cherson AE2 of Theodosius II definitely has two aliens on the reverse:

 

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That is actually still “human”compared to the later issues of this series.

 

Some ancient Indian and South Indian coins can look proper alien in worn condition. Here are a couple (not mine) that were “attributed” by me years ago. :-D

Obverse: Alien punching the evil frog prince
Reverse: Mothership Theta



Obverse: Alien peeking out of spacecraft
Reverse: Incubation chamber

 

Even without venturing into alien territory, I think these are pretty intriguing coins. They were struck by Heraclius at an extremely fraught time for the Empire. The Byzantines had in the preceding years of his reign ceded control of much of Syria, Egypt and Africa to the Sasanians. Damascus, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Chalcedon had been conquered, and even the True Cross was lost. With the Sasanian armies at the doorstep of Constantinople, Heraclius was forced to empty the treasury when he sued for peace. Having bought himself some time, he then needed to revitalize the Byzantine armies, but lacked the money to do so. At that point, Sergius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, offered up the Church's silver plates and gold to help fund the effort, which Heraclius then melted down to use for use at the mint to strike new coins. There's a real possibility here that our hexagrams used to be those silver plates from the Constantinople church.

One of the David Plates, showing David in battle with Goliath, circa AD 610-613:



And then, abit of a step down in the life of some 7th century silver:

BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Heraclius with Heraclius Constantine
AR Hexagram. 6.42g, 25mm. Constantinople mint, AD 615-638. DOC 64; Hahn MIB 140; Sear Byzantine 798. O: ∂∂ NN hЄRACLIЧ Єτ hЄRA COnS, Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine seated facing on double throne, each crowned and holding globus cruciger; cross between. R: ∂ЄЧS A∂IЧτA ROmANIS, cross potent on globe above three steps; K to right.

 

I agree that these are really nice coins, @zumbly They have a certain «chunkyness» about them too, with 6,4 grams of silver and 23-24mm flan. It’s a coin that is good to have in hand.
Coinworld had a nice article about Byzantine silver:
https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/rare-byzantine-silver-coins-ancients-today.html

I’m super happy with my coin, and it’s «ugly duckling» beauty, and intriguing history.

 

I saw this and thought 'maybe I should get this' and then I clicked on the link and saw the price...

I read about this before but had completely forgotten about the connection of hexagrams and church gold. This actually makes the coins even more desirable as it would be like acquiring a small part of Constantinople during its heyday.

 

And its not MS/ maybe VF at best. Rudd sold one in EF way better then this coin for 500UK Pounds.