Hmm. Very odd indeed. Tried again from sqlite:
<code>
SQLite version 3.34.0 2020-12-01 16:14:00
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to a transient in-memory database.
Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent database.
sqlite> SELECT x'c3a1', hex('
2021-02-11 11:06:47
/Volumes/femto/FemtoDocuments/MyDB [user]
</code>
But surprisingly from bash shell:
<code>
echo "SELECT x'c3a1', hex('á');" | sqlite3
á|C3A1
</code>
So you're correct about something weird there. The version I'm using is one I recompiled trying to get some ICU features. Perhaps that messed something up. Will d/l a vanilla version from sqlite and see what happens. Good catch. Thank you.