A limestone figure of a lioness created 5,000 years ago, is expected to sell for between 14 million and 18 million US dollars. The figure, known as The Guennol Lioness, measures just three and one quarter inches in height. It was carved in the earliest days of civilization when the wheel was first used. Now the ancient treasure is ready to go on auction in New York.It is not only the lioness' age that makes it so valuable. Robert Keresey Worldwide head of Sothebys Antiquities says the carving is a work of great artistry and beauty. Richard Keresey, world wide head of Sotheby's antiquities Dept., said, "It's the power and beauty of the form, the unusual posture and the sense of monumentality that a sculpture only three and a quarter inches high, conveys. One scholar wrote that when you look at it in person, it seems to fill your entire field of vision."The Guennol Lioness has been on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art since 1949, after being purchased by Alastair and Edith Martin in 1948. But how did a Mesopotamian figurine get to the U.S.A.? It was reportedly found near Baghdad. Subsequently it was acquired by New York dealer Joseph Brummer, who brought it to the U.S.A. in 1931.Richard Keresey said, "Like with so many small objects from antiquity there are many sort of chance finds. Things that are not, they're not from excavations, they're not from formations, they're just found objects in the soil. This lioness was discovered in an era when there were no laws existed restricting the export and import of antiquities and things could be freely traded,"Other highlights of the Sotheby's sale include an alabaster figure of a woman from southern Arabia, expected to sell for an estimated up to $600-thousand dollars U.S. And there's a marble head of Zeus, circa first-century A.D.The antiquities auction takes place at Sotheby's, New York, Wednesday.