Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
I. ” (Genesis 20:16; 37:28; 45:28; Judges 9:4; 16:5; 2 Kings 6:25; Hosea 3:2; Zechariah 11:12,13) In similar passages the word “shekels” occurs in the Hebrew. There are other passages in which the Authorized Version supplies the word “shekels” instead of “pieces,” (22:19,29; Judges 17:2,3,4,10; 2 Samuel 18:11,12) and of these the first two require this to be done. The shekel, be it remembered, was the common weight for money, and therefore most likely to be understood in an elliptical phrase.
The “piece” or shekel of silver weighed 220 grains, or about half an ounce, and was worth a little more than half a dollar (55 cents). II.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PIECE OF SILVER. T. , the phrase being "a thousand," or the like, "of silver," and may be interpreted "shekels," as the shekel was the common weight for money. See Money. T. "piece of silver" is the translation of "drachma," Luke 15:8, and of a coin of uncertain value, probably shekel. Matt 26:15.
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
PIECE OF SILVER. T. , the phrase being "a thousand," or the like, "of silver," and may be interpreted "shekels," as the shekel was the common weight for money. See Money. T. "piece of silver" is the translation of "drachma," Luke 15:8, and of a coin of uncertain value, probably shekel. Matt 26:15. PI'ETY occurs only once in our version, 1 Tim 6:4, where it denotes the reverence which children owe their parents.