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 - Historic 'Kutahya, Turkey' Colemanite Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Displaying colourless and white crystals; purchased for £42.00 from Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd, in the 1980s, with an old label. 294 grams, 11.5 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 - Medium Amethyst Crystal Geode Section Group [11]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Each cut section with clusters of purple to lavender coloured crystals. 1.25 kg total, 32-94 mm
From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace String
20th century A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £13
Composed of biconical beads; restrung. 6.4 grams, 42 cm long
UK gallery, early 2000s. -
Natural History - Fossil Ginko Leaf
Carboniferous Period, 359-299 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
The light-coloured specimen on an irregular matrix. 88 grams, 73 mm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Angrite NWA 2999 Meteorite Slice
Found 2004 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
An irregular section of angrite meteorite recorded as: Northwest Africa 2999; displayed in a Swiss membrane box and with an inked 'NWA 2999' to one side. 1.73 grams, 20 mm (28.4 grams total, 84 x 59 mm including case)
From the Sahara Desert, North West Africa. Ex Hupé collection, U.S.A. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection.
This specimen fragment formed part of a group of twelve individual dark brown stones totalling 392 grams, each with a thin fusion crust, that were acquired by G. Hupé in August 2004 in Tagounite. -
Natural History - Historic 'Kirgiz, Russia' Stibnite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Displaying excellent crystal formations, collection number 434; bought from Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd for £25.00 in the 1980s. 116 grams, 68 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. -
Natural History - Historic 'Missouri Calcite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
With creamy yellowish white, ash and blue grey crystals, collection number 107. 422 grams, 90 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. -
Natural History - Historic Collection of Mineral Specimens
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising: cut section of tiger's eye from South Africa, collection number 111; calcite of duftite from Tsumeb, South West Africa, collection number 566; specular hematite on calcite, collection number 300; cut agate geode half from Mexico, collection number 37; andalusite from France, collection number 301; deep brown morion crystal point from Brazil, collection number 97; cut pebble of tiger's eye from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 203; calcite from A40 construction works, Middlesex, UK, collection number 509; chalcopyrite from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 193. 686 grams total, 3.7-10.8 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. Eight specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Cut and Polished Fossil Ammonite
Middle Cretaceous Period, 150 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Revealing the distinctive structure of the Cleoniceras sp. chambers, some iridescence to outer surfaces. 245 grams total, 10.2 cm each
Collected 1930-1960. From the collection of the palaeontologist R Gledhill. -
Natural History - Historic Large Gypsum Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
A large specimen with large blades from Mexico, collection number 79. 776 grams, 17.8 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. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising: a cut and polished agate slice, collection number 395; jasper slice from Stone Canyon, near Coalinga, California, USA, collection number 289; a cut section of sandstone nodule, collection number 227. 1.62 kg total, 15.2-17 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 index file card. -
Natural History - Historic 'Vera Cruz, Mexico' Amethyst Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Consisting of two well-formed amethyst crystals extending from a bed of white quartz crystals, collection number 575, with an old A.L.D. Milverton label. 16 grams, 43 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.