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 Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising: quartzite, collection number 407; fluorite from Cumbria, collection number 431, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label; stilbite from Skye, Scotland, collection number 286; quartz from Cornwall, England, collection number 295; iron on matrix slate from England, collection number 89; septarian nodule from Horsenden Hill, Ealing, Middlesex, England, collection number 216; malachite with quartz from Mexico, collection number 59; thunder agate from Australia, collection number 45; quartz from Cornwall, England, collection number 295. 2.01 kg total, 6.7-17 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. Six specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising: fluorite from Hilton Mine, Scardale, Cumbria, England, collection number 582; vanadinite from USA, collection number 21; rosasite from Mexico, collection number 254; graphite from Sri Lanka, collection number 1; grossular from Mexico, collection number 119; adamite from Mexico, collection number 449; millerite from Bedwellty Pit, Tredegar, Monmouthshire, collection number 520; chalcedony from Whitstable Bay, Kent, England, collection number 177; lodestone, collection number 151. 117 grams total, 19-35 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 'India' Prehnite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Displaying natural crystal formation, very rare in this form, collection number 372, with an old James Walker label and invoice dated 1979. 167 grams, 13.6 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 - Large Historic 'Brazil' Sphalerite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
An interesting specimen displaying black, greyish black, slate-grey and toffee-brown colours, collection number 125. 1.08 kg, 15 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 'Peru' Tetrahedrite and Chalcopyrite on Quartz Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Featuring small tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite crystals on a bed of small quartz crystals, collection number 441, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. 64 grams, 60 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 - Eucrite-Melt Breccia NWA 11576 Meteorite Slice
Found 2017 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
A rare eucrite meteorite slice recorded as: Northwest Africa 11576; displayed in a Swiss membrane box, inked inscription ' NWA 11576' to one edge. 20 grams, 38 mm (76.3 grams total, 99 x 75 mm including case)
From North West Africa (Mali). Ex SV-Meteorites, Prague. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by an original identification card.
Eucrites are achondritic stony meteorites thought to have originated from the surface of the giant asteroid (or minor planet) 4 Vesta. Vesta is the second largest body in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres. Like Earth, it has the differentiated layers of crust, mantle, and core common to rocky planets: this may mean that 4 Vesta is the remnant of a larger destroyed planet. -
Natural History - Fossil Scutellum Trilobite
Upper Devonian Period, 385-359 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
A Scutellum sp. trilobite from the family Styginidae on a matrix. 222 grams, 77 mm
From the Atlas Mountains, Hamar Laghdad Formation, Pragian, (Alnif), Morocco, North Africa. From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Diogenite NWA 4664 Meteorite Slice
Found 2006 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
A cut slice of diogenite, an igneous rock rich in the magnesium- and iron-rich silicate orthopyroxene, recorded as: Northwest Africa 4664; displayed in a Swiss membrane box, inked note 'NWA 4664' to one side. 10.2 grams, 53 mm (58.6 grams total, 99 x 75 mm including case)
From Algeria. Ex Mile High Meteorites, U.S.A. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. Accompanied by an original identification card.
Vesta is the second largest asteroid and the only large one covered with basalt; the fine-grained volcanic rock makes up the dark areas of the Moon and the huge shield volcanoes on Mars. Three groups of achondrites (igneous meteorites) are widely thought to have come from Vesta; these are the HED meteorites: Howardites, Eucrites and Diogenites. -
Natural History - Historic 'Bunker Hill Mine, Idaho' Pyromorphite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Displaying rich toffee-brown and yellow colours, collection number 529, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. 100 grams, 84 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 - Large Historic 'Shepton Mallet, Somerset' Calcite Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
A large section displaying pinkish white to opaque and pinkish pale brown colours, from Tor Quarry, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset, 130 feet below ground level near the junction with the overlying Triassic (pinkish powder), collection number 70. 5 kg, 23 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 'Mexico' Hemimorphite Crystal Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Comprising tabular colourless crystals on a this bed of hematite, collection number 572, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label. 65 grams, 59 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): £46
Comprising: a cut sample of chrysoprase from Australia, collection number 383; bornite from North Transvaal, North Africa, collection number 215; yellow calcite from Libya, collection number 361; a cut geode half from Brazil, collection number 112; a cut calcite slice from Malta, collection number 80; green actinolite from near St Moritz, Switzerland, collection number 359; a large rose quartz specimen from Brazil, collection number 64; agate geode section, collection number 385; actinolite from near St Moritz, Switzerland, collection number 359. 2.8 kg total, 5.1-13 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.