Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection

Comprising: blue sapphire from Antar Village, Jamaa, Kaduna State, Nigeria, collection number 563; a fine aquamarine-blue tourmaline crystal with pale rose-pink colour towards the top of the main crystal, collection number 460, with an old Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd label; cinnabar from Humboldt County, California, USA, collection number 260; talc from Norway, collection number 18; copper from USA, collection number 91; baryte from Frizington, Cumbria, England, collection number 421; moss agatev311; lapis lazuli from USSR, collection number 135; mica schist from Skiathos Island, Greece, collection number 511. 104 grams total, 25-47 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.

From the lower jaw, displaying two teeth from Prognathodon sp.; repaired. 89 grams, 87 mm



From the phosphate mine region, Khouribga, Morocco, North Africa. Acquired 1950s-1960s. From an old Bristol, UK, palaeontological collection.

The Mosasaur is an extinct, large marine reptile dinosaur with a snake-like body, long snout and paddle-like limbs. Found worldwide, they competed with other well-known sea predators of the Late Cretaceous, such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, for food, existing primarily on a diet of ammonoids, cuttlefish and fish.

A nickel-iron meteorite (IAB). 30 grams, 37 mm



From a Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law.