Natural History - Fossil Knightia Fish

Comprising: rhodochrosite from Argentina, collection number 11; an attractive quartz rosette, collection number 282; a cut and polished agate slice from Brazil, collection number 350; vanadinite on calcite, collection number 146; lepidolite from Brazil, collection number 268; spodumene from Nuristan, collection number 630; sand crystals from Canterbury Sand Pit, Canterbury, England, collection number 173; pyrite from England, collection number 82. 111 grams total, 16-70 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.

A large Charonosaurus sp. hadrosaur egg retaining evidence of the original leathery surface. 3.4 kg, 16 cm



Acquired 1983-1990. Private collection, Hove, UK.

Hadrosaurs were large dinosaurs, growing up to 10 metres in length, belonging to the ‘Duck-Billed’ group of dinosaurs. They are considered the ‘herd animal’ of the Cretaceous, having been found buried together in their thousands. Dinosaur egg fossils are known from approximately two-hundred sites around the word, particularly in Asia. This nest comes from the Xixia Formation, Henan region of China, which produces some of the best preserved eggs in the world. These eggs can yield entire embryos within them, making them an essential tool for understanding the biology of these creatures.

Australopithecus Africanus cranium skull with hand-painted finish. 1.19 kg, 20.1 cm



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Australopithecus africanus is an extinct South African species of australopithecine which lived circa 3.3-2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. Australopithecus, means ‘southern ape’. It is based on ‘australo’, a Latin word meaning ‘southern’ and ‘pithecus’, a Greek word meaning ‘ape’. The females grew to about 110 centimetres in height and males were slightly taller at about 135 centimetres.