Ancient Art, Antiquities, Books, Natural History & Coins

The attractive internal structure filled with yellow calcite, brown aragonite, and grey limestone. 3.05 kg, 19.8 cm



Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.

Comprising a tall, rectangular body formed of translucent cut slabs of milky stone with contrasting banding; accompanied by a separate light fitting on a stone base with US plug (not tested). 12.8 kg total, 60 cm



From Mexico. Property of a London lady.

A cylindrical section of honey-coloured amber containing a small fly to one side. 1.29 grams, 15 mm



From Colombia, South America. From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.

Restrung, using recently polished Mammuthus primigenius spherical bone beads. 200 grams, 60 cm



London, UK, collection, 2000s.

The mammoth lineage branched from the Asian elephant around 6 million years ago, and later on the Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, evolved in eastern Siberia. Woolly mammoths, being slightly smaller than living African elephants, were foragers and ate grass, as well as small, nutritious flowering plants that flourished in the environment where they lived. They may also have used their curved tusks to dig through snow and eat plants that other foragers were unable to reach.

From Onchopristus numidus sawfish. 27 grams total including box, 50-55 mm



Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Irregular geode matrix with light purple amethyst crystals; the metal branches tipped with polished light-coloured citrine pebbles. 479 grams, 20 cm



From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.

Each cut to a heart shape and polished to reveal the internal structure. 115 grams total, 33-36 mm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Boxed group of chocolate brown irregular specimens. 2.35 kg total including box, 16-46 mm



From Mexico. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.

An irregular matrix with three overlapping ammonite specimens, likely Ludwigia or Pseudographoceras. 265 grams, 99.6 mm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

A pair of earrings made from two nickel-iron meteorites (IAB). 8.3 grams total, 40 mm



From a Cambridgeshire, 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 199,0 it became protected by law.

An irregular cut piece of black jet, attached to an information card. 13 grams total, Jet: 46 mm



Ian Wilkinson collection, Nottinghamshire, UK, formed since 1985.

Boxed group of irregular specimens showing vitreous lustre. 5.01 kg total including box, 6.2-11.1 cm



From Mexico. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.