Western Asiatic Veined Stone Macehead

Sheet-silver pyxis with tapering sides and slightly curved base, everted rim; discoid lid with lip, impressed cruciform design with zigzags in the quadrants; sidewall with impressed frieze of leopards in profile, ring-and-dot and chased detailing to fur. 50 grams, 87 mm high



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a London gentleman.

Comprising a large quantity of beads including oblate seed beads, large tubular, facetted and discoid beads, and one shaped as a bird. 89 grams total, 2-21 mm



UK gallery, early 2000s.

Complete and of spherical form, containing clay 'tokens'; the outer face impressed with enigmatic motifs. 229 grams, 65 mm



Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1988. Thence by descent to family members. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

The impressed detailing on the outer face of the sphere presumably gives an indication as to the contents, but since so few of these items survive intact there is little certainty on the subject.