Natural History - Boxed Historic Quartz Crystal 'Flower' Specimen

Comprising: siltstone from Table Top Mountain, South Africa, collection number 405; jasper pebble from England, collection number 409; sphalerite from Baxter Springs, Kansas, USA, collection number 477, with an old Gregory, Bottley and Lloyd label; two vanadinite specimens from Mibladen, Morocco, collection number 603, with an old Gregory, Bottley and Lloyd label; mudstone from the English Channel Tunnel construction works, collection number 212; a cut agate geode half, collection number 265; carboniferous limestone, collection number 214; granite from A40 construction works, Middlesex, England, collection number 503; diopside from Scotland, collection number 480. 1.04 kg total, 47-95 mm



Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Each specimen accompanied by an original historic index file card.

Comprising three rounded sandstone matrices, each with a Knightia alta specimen. 159 grams total, 75 mm each



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 Ulinta, 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.

Rectangular sedimentary block with embedded leaves with evidence for damage by weevils feeding on the lakeside vegetation. 702 grams, 13.7 cm



From Green River shales, Wyoming, U.S.A. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection.