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 - Large Historic 'Cumbria, UK' Specular Hematite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
A large specimen with an internal cavity, displaying steel grey, reddish brown, grey black, and black colours, collection number 341. 2.14 kg, 16 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): £7
Comprising: a cut and polished agate slice from Brazil, repaired, collection number 352; cobalto-smithsonite from Tsumeb, Namibia, South West Africa, collection number 562; malachite with quartz from Mexico, collection number 59; actinolite from Canada, collection number 16; wollastonite from Devon, England, collection number 159; antimony, collection number 584; fluorite from Cumbria, England, collection number 9; hematite from Cumbria, collection number 7; calcite from England, collection number 102. 94 grams total, 14-50 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 Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Comprising: gypsum, no collection number; garnet schist, collection number 191; red granite, collection number 399; Blue John from Derbyshire, England, collection number 484, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label; a cut and polished slice of septarian nodule from USA, collection number 117; limestone from Skiathos Island, Greece, collection number 510; kermesite with stibnite from Pezinok, Czechoslovakia, collection number 601; mica, collection number 366; pyrite and chlorite in matrix slate from Devon, England, collection number 46. 1.28 kg total, 5.1-12.1 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. Five specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Polished Fossil Cleoniceras Ammonite
Jurassic Period, circa 199-145 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Cut Cleoniceras sp. ammonite, polished to reveal the distinctive structure of the chambers. 149 grams total, 86 mm each
From Madagascar. From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Amethyst Crystal Geode Segment
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Freestanding and cut to a triangular shape, well-formed dark purple amethyst crystals. 704 grams, 11.8 cm
From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Historic Amber Specimen with Fly
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Honey-coloured teardrop-shaped specimen with a small fly inclusion, collection number 456; supplied in a small collector's display box with magnifying lid. 0.40 grams, 13 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 Agate Mineral Specimen Coaster Set
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising six polished slices displaying black and brown banding, from Brazil, collection number 275. 390 grams total, 83-92 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 Nodule
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
In enhanced green colour, opened to reveal the internal crystal filled cavity. 98 grams total, 45-50 mm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Historic 'McKenzies Hill Mine, near Laverton, Western Australia' Gold Nugget
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
A natural nugget displaying attractive gold-yellow colour, collection number 611. 0.91 grams, 10 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 'Tsumeb, South West Africa' Calcite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Exhibiting stepped rhombohedral crystals, collection number 594, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. 250 grams, 10.1 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 - Unpolished Fossil Tree Branch Section Group [10]
Triassic Period, 251-199 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Each showing good bark detail. 966 grams total, 47-97 mm
From Madagascar. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Polished Copal Pair with Insects
Over 3 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Comprising two polished specimens containing several insects and other inclusions. 39 grams total, 7.8-11.2 cm
From Madagascar. Acquired 1950s-1960s. From an old Bristol, UK, palaeontological collection.