British Unidentified Fossil Fish in Matrix

Comprising one hundred irregular specimens. 3.68 kg total, 32-52 mm



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

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.

An oval matrix with four small and one large Knightia alta specimens. 192 grams, 14.4 cm



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.