I found this coin about 20 years ago while taking apart an old arm chair, looked fake to me but any help would be much appreciated.
A little pitting and the bird looks a bit weird to me, but the edge looks fine. What's the weight and approximate diameter?
I only have a postage scale that measures whole grams and its at 10g (I will take it to work tonight a get a more precise weight). It measures 1'' across.
Leaning heavily toward fake, then. 10g is too light to be a shekel and too heavy to be a half shekel.
The style looks off to me. Not enough lettering in the fields on the reverse and what is there looks soft. These should weigh in the 14.2 - 14.5 g range. Where did you buy it?
Numerous casting bubbles, mushy details in protected areas, no wear on high points, the fake it's a shekel of Tyre, (one of the most faked ancient coins), and all points lead to cast fake. Sorry OP.
This one checks off all the fake boxes: Soft details - Check Casting bubbles and pits - Check Soft details - Check Wrong weight - Check