What it is: Carthaginian bronze shekel/unit
• Where it was made: Minted in Sicily (western Sicily, likely near Panormus/modern Palermo) by the Carthaginians
• When: 350–320 BC — that’s roughly 2,346 years ago
• Who was in charge: Carthage didn’t have a single “ruler” like a king at this point. It was run by a council of elders and elected officials called Suffetes. This was during the period when Carthage was the dominant naval power in the western Mediterranean and was fighting repeated wars against the Greek cities of Sicily. This coin was likely struck to pay soldiers.
• The images mean: The horse may reference the city’s founding legend — when they dug up a horse head from the soil and took it as a good sign to build the city. The palm tree was a visual pun: the Greek word for palm tree, “phoinix,” is also the word for “Phoenician.”
Grading — Cross-checked
I compared your coin against the reference image on Numista’s listing (N# 40549), which uses a CNG (Classical Numismatic Group) photo as its reference. That reference coin is a sharp, well-centered example — roughly EF/XF quality.
Your coin: the palm tree side is close to that reference quality — crisp fronds, visible fruit. The horse head side is a step below — good detail but softer on the high points.