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LOT 2779
Boxed and Labelled Mineral Specimen Collection
6 1/2 x 4 7/8 in. (127 grams, 16.5 x 12.5 cm overall).
A group of natural and cleaved crystal and minerals each held within a labelled card tray. [12, No Reserve]
ProvenanceProperty of a Surrey lady; previously in the private collection of Patrick Phillips, Weybridge, Surrey, UK; the collection formed since the early 1970s; thence by descent 2019.
From the private collection of John Meredith, acquired since the 1990s; thence by descent.
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AUCTIONS:
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Window Quartz Mineral Display Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Cut and polished to reveal the clear internal section with manganese. 177 grams, 75 mm
Property of a North West London, UK, lady. -
Fly in Baltic Amber
Pliocene Epoch, 5.33-2.58 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
A roughly triangular piece with a fly inclusion. 0.28 grams, 14 mm
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. -
Morton Gneiss Plate Sections
Circa 3.5 billion years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Comprising four 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. 233.7 kg total, 85 x 57.7 - 85 x 58 cm
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.
