**Originally Listed At $200**

Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, ca. 1st millennium BCE. A collection of five hard, polished stone gaming pieces, each with a flat base and rounded conical body. Two are a milky quartz and the others are harder amber-colored and red-brown stones; all were probably made from river cobbles. Size of largest: 1.1" W x 1.1" H (2.8 cm x 2.8 cm)

Board games are a charming way we can link our own culture back to the ancient Mesopotamians. Scholars believe that even some of the ivory panels discovered at Nimrud may have once been part of game boards. Rough tracks scratched into the base of stone sculptures in the Assyrian court lead us to believe that guards played games on duty around 705 BCE. These game pieces would have been treasured objects.

Provenance: Ex-Private New York Collection, ex London collection acquired in the 1970's

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#119560

Surface wear and minor chips to all.