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 - Woolly Mammoth Bone Bead Necklace String
Devensian Period, 110,000-12,000 years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Restrung using recently polished Mammuthus primigenius bone beads. 175 grams, 60 cm
Ex London collection, 2000s. -
Natural History - Campo Del Cielo Meteorite
Fell 6000-5000 years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
A nickel-iron meteorite (IAB). 30 grams, 37 mm
From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.
A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law. -
Natural History - Large British Pleuroceras Fossil Ammonite Multi Display
Jurassic Period, circa 180-178 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
Showing specimens of Pleuroceras paucicostatum or Pleuroceras hawskerensefossil ammonites in a matrix, together with other inclusions; accompanied by a display stand. 2.4 kg, 17 cm
From Hawsker, North Yorkshire, UK. -
Natural History - Historic 'Herkimer Diamond' Quartz Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
A very clear, gem-quality variety of quartz exhibiting hexagonal symmetry, collection number 629; purchased for £31.00 from Harrods, Knightsbridge in 1987, with an old Harrods label and invoice. 8.3 grams, 25 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 - Tiger's Eye Pendant Designer Necklace
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Featuring quartz or agate beads, biconical glass beads and oval tiger's eye beads, with a facetted tear-shaped tiger's eye pendant bead. 36 grams total, 42 cm long
UK gallery, early 2000s. -
Natural History - Fossil Goniatite Display Stand
Devonian Period, circa 417-354 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising four Goniatite sp. specimens on a textured freestanding matrix. 2.19 kg, 21.2 cm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Fossil Yorkshire Ammonite Cluster
Lower Jurassic Period, Toarcian Stage, circa 180 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
A cut matrix with numerous overlapping Cymbites and Arnioceras sp. specimens. 729 grams, 15 cm
From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection. Ex property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. -
Natural History - Large Historic 'USA' Marcasite on Galena Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
A large specimen displaying good crystals of spear-shaped marcasite and cubic galena formations, collection number 453, with an old till receipt from the Natural History Museum Shop dated 1982. 2.62 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 - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Comprising: a cut and polished section of blue laced agate from South Africa, collection number 239; green epidote from South Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 221; calcite on amethyst from Brazil, collection number 132; pyromorphite from Pribram, Czechoslovakia, collection number 445; azurite from Brazil, collection number 337; an amethyst geode section from Morocco, collection number 297; green tourmaline from Brazil, collection number 145; realgar on orpiment from Humboldt County, Nevada, USA, collection number 217; sodalite from South Africa, collection number 252. 1.34 kg total, 3.7-12.5 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. Each specimen accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Campo Del Cielo Meteorite
Fell 6000-5000 years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
A nickel-iron meteorite (IAB). 25.3 grams, 25 mm
From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.
A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising: vivianite from Llallagua, Bolivia, collection number 589; colourless calcite from Derbyshire, England, collection number 10; pyrite and chlorite in matrix slate from Devon, England, collection number 46; wulfenite from Chihuahua, Mexico, collection number 208; actinolite from Norway, collection number 408; chalcopyrite on bornite from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 33; proustite from Schlema Ore Mountains, Saxony, Germany, collection number 606; aragonite from Somerset, England, collection number 166; chalcosine from England, collection number 50. 79 grams total, 13-50 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 - Historic 'Hillsboro, Mexico' Wulfenite Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Well-formed toffee-coloured wulfenite crystals with a small area of pale lemon-yellow small crystals of unknown variety, collection number 522, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. 74 grams total, 70 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.