Natural History - Polished Fossil Goniatite Book Ends

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.

Comprising: muscovite, collection number 307; brown calcite from Brazil, collection number 56; asbestos from South Africa, collection number 290; manganese nodule from equatorial Atlantic, off Sierra Leone, West Africa, collection number 232; a cut and polished agate slice from Brazil, collection number 213; cerussite from Harz Mountains, West Germany, collection number 521, with a previous collector's number label 594; muscovite, collection number 292; sulphur on amorphoussilica from Italy, collection number 482; a cut and polished slice of crazy laced agate from Brazil, collection number 368. 1.2 kg total, 5.4-13.2 cm



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

Consisting of large prismatic crystals protruding from a bed of smaller crystals, collection number 610, with an old Geologisch Centrum label. 156 grams, 11 cm



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