Ancient Art, Antiquities, Books, Natural History, Stamps & Coins

Comprising three rectangular sections of grey pink and black medium to coarse-grained biotite-quartz-plagioclase gneiss with polished upper face, each with wooden backing and one cracked. approx. 84 kg total, 85 x 58 cm each



Canadian Shield, Minnesota River Valley, Southwestern Minnesota, USA. with Phillips, New York, 3 June 1995, no.81. Private collection, Florida, acquired at the above sale. with Sotheby’s, New York, 28 April 2021, no.27 (est. $2,500–3,500).

The world’s oldest known rocks come from the Canadian Shield area of North America. Among the most ancient is the present material, Morton Gneiss at approximately 3.5 billion years old believed to be part of Earth’s first planetary crust. The swirls and layers are a result of metamorphism that incurred when the original volcanic rock was buried to tremendous depths.

Boxed group of royal blue sodalite specimens with white calcite veins. 3.96 kg total, 6.7-10.6 cm



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

Large nodule with a fossilised Eleganticeras ammonite specimen. 1.22 kg, 13 cm



From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

Large fragment of a jaw with four teeth. 132 grams, 14.7 cm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

The Mosasaur is an extinct, large marine reptile dinosaur with an elongated body, long snout and paddle-like limbs. Found worldwide, they competed with other well-known sea predators of the Late Cretaceous, such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, for food, existing primarily on a diet of ammonoids, cuttlefish and fish.

Large quantity of pale coloured topaz pebbles, including quartz and possibly some other specimens. 1.3 kg total, 11-52 mm



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

Large Hammatoceras insigne specimen showing the characteristic discoidal form with strong ribbing. 750 grams, 16.1 cm



From Toarcian Caluados, France. 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.

Thick free-standing section of agatised wood. 964 grams, 10.9 cm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Comprising two intergrown egg-shaped mounds, produced by the activity of ancient cyanobacteria, the sediment layers visible on the underside. 853 grams, 11.9 cm



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.

Comprising two opened nodules showing the positive and negative of the fern fossil. 366 grams total, 10-10.7 cm



From Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek, Braidwood, Illinois, USA. 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.

Each showing characteristic banding and crystal-lined cavities. 2.2 kg total, 9.3-11 cm



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

Good-sized cylindrical box with a lid carved from fossiliferous stone, the lid set with a goniatite specimen. 766 grams, 11 cm wide



Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Thick section of agatized wood showing some bark detailing on the outer edges. 1.81 kg, 30.8 cm



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