Old money still around

The shekel, Israel's unit of currency, was known as early as the second millennium BC as a unit of weight for means of payment. It is recorded in the Bible that Abraham negotiated the purchase of a field 'and the cave that was therein' at Machpela (near Hebron), saying: 'I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.' Ephron, the landowner, replied: 'The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver . . . and Abraham weighed to Ephron . . . four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.' (Genesis 23:13,15-17).