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 - Carbonaceous CK 4/5 NWA 4026 Meteorite Slice
Found 2005 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
A cut end section of carbonaceous chondrite recorded as: Northwest Africa 4026; displayed in a Swiss membrane box, inked 'NWA 4026' to one side. 12.1 grams, 41 mm (67 grams total, 99 x 75 mm including case)
From Morocco/Algeria. Ex Hanno Strufe Meteorites, Germany. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by an original identification card. -
Natural History - Historic Stunning Orpiment Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Displaying vivid yellow, red and reddish-orange colours, high arsenic content, collection number 345. 185 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 - Quartz Crystal Point Group [100]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Comprising single translucent points in two labelled bags. 891 grams total, 29-39 mm
From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Enstatite Happy Canyon Meteorite Slice
Found 1971 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
A scarce enstatite achondrite stony meteorite section; displayed in a Swiss membrane box with an inked 'H314.52 to one side. 7.57 grams, 29 mm (61 grams total, 99 x 75 mm including case)
Ex American Meteorite Laboratory specimen number H314.52. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by an old original identification card.
The Happy Canyon meteorite specimen was ploughed up on the R.L. Grigsby farm about 2 km northwest of Wayside, Texas in 1971; the original weight of the complete specimen was reported as 16.3 kg. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Comprising: quartz from Brazil, collection number 384; garnet schist, collection number 190; granite from adjacent to Ruislip Road, Greenford, Middlesex, England, collection number 464; thunder agate geode half, collection number 396; dolomite, collection number 202; citrine from Brazil, collection number 113; uranophane from Rossing Mine, South West Africa, collection number 613, with an old Isis Minerals label; septarian nodule section from Horsenden Hill, Ealing, Middlesex, England, collection number 216; granite from the A40 construction works, Middlesex, England, collection number 504. 3.06 kg total, 4.5-16.5 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. Each specimen accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic 'Brazil' Spectacular Rutile in Quartz Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Comprising a wonderful star of radiating rutile crystals within a very clear quartz crystal, collection number 600; with an old identification card from Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd, paid £70.00. 80 grams, 67 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 Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising: crocoite from Dundas, Tasmania, collection number 440; pyrite from Brazil, collection number 124; jasper, collection number 310; rose quartz, collection number 468; aragonite from Spain, collection number 355; malachite from Shaba, Zaire, collection number 12; specular hematite, collection number 155; sodalite, collection number 313; augite from Kenya, collection number 14. 112 grams total, 11-43 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. Each specimen accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic 'Italy' Calcite on Pyrite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Greyish, imperfect calcite crystals on a bed of small iridescent pyrite crystals, collection number 517. 698 grams, 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. Accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising: ruby from East Africa, collection number 172; orange citrine, collection number 296; aventurine, collection number 306; colourless aquamarine from Minas Gerais, Brazil, collection number 157; blue opal, collection number 141; a cut and polished amethyst slice from Brazil, collection number 360; deep seaweed-green tourmaline from Nigeria, West Africa, collection number 329; turquoise from Cornwall, England, collection number 22; agate from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 198. 53 grams total, 13-55 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. Seven specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Boxed Polished Amethyst Crystal Obelisk Group [3]
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Each freestanding and with bevelled edges. 84 grams total, 60-70 mm
From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Historic Kolwesite and Rosasite on Hemimorphite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
With chocolate-brown, brownish and greenish grey crystals, possibly from Mexico, collection number 149. 83 grams, 55 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 a letter from the British Museum (Natural History) dated 1983 confirming the specimen to be kolwesite. -
Natural History - 'El Chayal, Guatemala' Obsidian Block
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Irregular block with label to one face 'Obsidian / El Chaya / Guatemala' and old information card. 220 grams, 68 mm
From El Chayal, Guatemala. Ex UK collection. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by a location information card.