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

Comprising three freestanding sections with polished faces showing mainly grey and brown banding, and each with a central crystal-lined cavity. 2.06 kg total, 9.7-12.2 cm



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

Pale blue specimen exhibiting vitreous lustre. 5.82 grams, 22 mm



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

Comprising five heart-shaped specimens showing the internal structure of fossilised coral. 83.5 grams total, 24-35 mm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

An irregular matrix with Cylindroteuthis puzosiana belemnite and an impression of Kosmoceras ammonite, inked collector's number '55'. 687 grams, 27.1 cm



From Jurassic Oxford Clay, Jason Zone, Calvert, Buckinghamshire, UK. 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 three roughly oval matrices with Knightia alta specimens. 165 grams total, 70-74 mm



From Wyoming, USA. From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

In southwest Wyoming (and parts of Colorado and Utah), in the Green River Formation, are found some of the world's most outstanding specimens of fossil fish. The Green River system was composed of three lakes: Lake Uinta, Lake Gosiute and Fossil Lake. These Eocene lakes lay in a series of intermountain basins formed by geological events that uplifted the Rocky Mountains during the early Tertiary time. The climate was much different from the desert-like climate of this area today. Both the fauna (crocodiles, alligators, boa constrictors and some subtropical fish families) and the flora (such as large palm trees) indicate a climate much like that found along the Gulf Coast today. Large amounts of ash found in the sediments indicate that volcanoes were particularly active at this time.

Irregular geode matrix with light purple amethyst crystals; the metal branches tipped with polished light-coloured citrine pebbles. 505 grams, 16 cm



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

An irregular plaque with polished bullet-shaped orthoceras specimens. 2.8 kg, 24 cm



From the private collection of a Devon, UK, lady.

An irregular matrix with several polished bullet-shaped Orthoceras specimens. 3.2 kg, 26 cm high



Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Restrung, using recently polished oblate Mammuthus primigenius spherical bone beads. 135 grams, 58 cm



From a UK collection formed in the early 2000s. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.

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.

Thick slice of 'fortress' agate with grey, brown, black and orange banding, the internal cavity lined with small pale purple amethyst crystals. 575 grams, 24.6 cm



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

Polygonal matrix with a number of shrimp fossils. 283 grams, 16.2 cm



From Lebanon. From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

Composed of short cylindrical beads with a teardrop-shaped pendant, restrung. 7.1 grams, 32.5 cm



Acquired in the 1990s-early 2000s. Ex London, UK, collection.