Shekel or sheqel is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams —and became currency in ancient Tyre and Carthage and then in Hasmonean Judea.
An electrum Carthaginian shekel, c. 310–290 BC, bearing the image of Tanit, consort of Baal Hammon
Shekel from the First Jewish–Roman War with the legend לגאלת ציון, "To the redemption of Zion", in Paleo-Hebrew script, at the Rockefeller Archeological Museum
Mithqāl is a unit of mass equal to 4.25 grams (0.137 ozt) which is mostly used for measuring precious metals, such as gold, and other commodities, like saffron.
Gold dinar of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, minted at Damascus, Syria in AH 75 (697/698 CE), having a weight of almost 1 mithqāl (4.25 grams)