Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Granite Head of a Dignitary
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Carved with soft facial features and carefully executed cosmetic lines around the eye, earring, and carefully detailed duplex wig with gently wavy curls; likely from the Ramesside Period; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Portrait of a Boy as Worshipper of Isis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £17,550
Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. -
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39,000
Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand. -
Life-Size Roman Marble Sleeping Girl from a Sarcophagus Lid
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,800
Modelled in the half-round, nude with eyelids half-closed in sleep; a drapery partly covering the head and wrapping around the lower body under the hips; the hairstyle similar to those of the Antonine Dynasty, the peaceful face supported by the hands and the ear pierced to accept an earring; iron reinforcing rod to the feet and the right arm's armilla a later replacement; upper head restored in Parian marble. -
Byzantine Porphyry Relief with Cross Surrounded by Two Birds
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
An imposing panel divided to four sections by a central cross on a stepped pedestal, the lower and upper arm with branch-like extensions; the upper quadrants with a circlet surrounding a palm tree-shaped motif; each lower quadrant with a bird in profile facing back; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Carved Marble Memento Mori Skull
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Carved skull on a short neck with musculature and blood vessels; mandible in place with some teeth in sockets, wisps of hair adhering to the dome of the skull; one zygomatic bone partly absent; square-section socle base. -
'The Kelton' Gandharan Head of a Bodhisattva
Sold for (Inc. bp): £24,700
Carved in the half-round head of a Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya) with fine detailing to the arched brow, aquiline nose, neat moustache and full lips; the eyes heavily lidded, urna to the forehead, long open lobes to the ears; the hair in multi-stranded curling locks gathered into an ushnisha with brow-band below; heavily cleaned, conserved, and mounted on a custom-made stand; supplied with original old wooden base with collector's label: 'Head of Bodhisattva / Fine grain schist / Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan / 4th century'.
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Natural History - Mixed Historic Fossil Collection
Permian-Pliocene Period, circa 298-2.4 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising fossilised wood, leaf fossils, a gastropod mollusc, sea urchin, nautilus shell, a bivalve, gastropods on a matrix, and a replica beetle on a matrix; all fossils with old labels. 1.62 kg total, 7.6-11.9 cm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Each specimen accompanied by an original historic information card. -
Natural History - Hematoid Quartz Crystal Specimen Group [50]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising a large quantity of dark double-terminated crystals. 82 grams total, 10-31 mm
Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Historic 'Poona, India' Mesolite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Consisting of large, acicular crystals radiating from a central point, collection number 620; bought from Simon Harrison Minerals for £60.00 in 1986, with an old label and invoice. 207 grams, 12.5 cm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Mosasaur Jaw Section
Cretaceous Period, circa 145-65 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
From the lower jaw, displaying two teeth from Prognathodon sp.; repaired. 89 grams, 87 mm
From the phosphate mine region, Khouribga, Morocco, North Africa. Acquired 1950s-1960s. From an old Bristol, UK, palaeontological collection.
The Mosasaur is an extinct, large marine reptile dinosaur with a snake-like body, long snout and paddle-like limbs. Found worldwide, they competed with other well-known sea predators of the Late Cretaceous, such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, for food, existing primarily on a diet of ammonoids, cuttlefish and fish. -
Natural History - Quartz Crystal Nodule
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Split to reveal the internal enhanced purple crystal cavity. 138 grams, 65 mm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Historic Mounted 'Australia' Black Opal Specimen Pendant
Sold for (Inc. bp): £150
Polished to an oval cabochon and mounted to a pendant frame, collection number 219. 1.77 grams, 20 mm
Ex Miss Rawlinson in 1908. Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic 'Cornwall' Bournonite and Arsenopyrite or Sphalerite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Displaying the characteristic 'cog-wheel' shaped twins of bournonite, collection number 420. 135 grams, 62 mm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Accompanied by an original historic index file card and an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. -
Natural History - Nuevo Mercurio Fall Meteorite
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
A H5 chondrite showing some regmaglypts and primary fusion crust. 102 grams, 52 mm
Found near Nuevo Mercurio, Mexico, 1978.
The fall was strewn across an area about 10 km north of the village of Nuevo Mercurio, Zacatecas, Mexico, 250 km South West of Monterrey. A bright fireball, travelling North East to South West and visible over a radius of at least 200 km, exploded over north-central Mexico and scattered meteorites over an elliptical area more than 10 km in length. Only 5 kg of material has been found to date. -
Natural History - Lodranite NWA 8118 Meteorite Slice
Found 2013 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
A cut slice of primitive achondrite recorded as: Northwest Africa 8118; displayed in a Swiss membrane box, and with an inked 'NWA 8118' to one side. 16.7 grams, 53 mm (65.6 grams total, 99 x 75 mm including case)
From the Sahara Desert, North West Africa. Ex SV-Meteorites, Prague. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by an original identification card. -
Natural History - Arizona Sierra Natural Sandstone Coaster Set
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
A set of four polished coasters with cork backing, showing attractive layering. 560 grams total, 94 mm each
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Large Historic 'Blackdean, Durham' Fluorite with Galena Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Beautiful specimen displaying lead-grey galena crystals with a coating of fine purple cubic fluorite, collection number 542; purchased for £50.00 from Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd, in the 1980s, with an old label. 1.53 kg, 14 cm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Fossil Ammonite Group
Jurassic Period, circa 200 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Promicroceras planicosta with iron stained surface giving a beautiful contrast in colour, from the Lower Lias, Obtusum Zone. 42.53 grams, 67 mm
From Queen Camel, Somerset, UK, in 2008. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by a copy of a previous illustrated catalogue page with reference no.AMM7149.