3rd millennium BC. A shell cylinder seal with lions attacking goats; accompanied by a museum-quality impression and typed and signed scholarly note issued by W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder of Burnt Limestone(?) 36 x 24 mm. The design is a contest scene: six figures all on their hind legs. In the centre are two crossed lions, one attacking a horned animal as it is also being attacked by a further feline on the far left. The other lion is menacing a hero, who succours a horned animal on his right. there is a terminal, but not so far understood. This is an Akkadian seal, from Mesopotamia or south-west Iran, c. 2300-200 B.C. Much of the surface is covered with a layer of hard brown incrustation, which could be removed. But even as it is much of the design can be made out.' 37.3 grams, 36mm (1 1/2"). The Signo collection, the property of a West London businessman, formed in the late 1980s-early 1990s; item number W-526; academically researched and catalogued by the late Professor Lambert in the early 1990s; accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert.