3rd millennium B.C. A group of five clay tablet fragments of various shapes and sizes, each with cuneiform text to one or multiple faces. Cf. Chiriu, D., Ricci, P.C., Carbonaro, C.M., Nadali, D., ‘Raman identification of cuneiform tablet pigments: emphasis and colour technology in ancient Mesopotamian mid-third millennium’ in Heliyon, March, 2017, pp.1-17, fig.1. 80 grams total, 26-43 mm (1 - 1 5/8 in.). Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992. 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. This small collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples. Recent investigations by the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University show that colours were applied by Mesopotamian scribes to decorate cuneiform tablets. The style of the fragments points to Sumerian works of the third millennium B.C. [5, No Reserve]