Polished Fossil Orthoceras Group

Restrung using recently polished Mammuthus primigenius bone beads. 174 grams, 60 cm



Ex West country, UK, collection, 1990s onwards.

The mammoth lineage branched from the Asian elephant around 6 million years ago, and later on the Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, evolved in eastern Siberia. Woolly mammoths, being slightly smaller than living African elephants, were foragers and ate grass, as well as small, nutritious flowering plants that flourished in the environment where they lived. They may also have used their curved tusks to dig through snow and eat plants that other foragers were unable to reach.

Comprising thirteen parallelepiped specimens displaying birefringence, nine in specimen boxes. 249 grams total, 20-27 mm



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

Rectangular matrix with a Knightia alta specimen. 210 grams, 80 mm



From Wyoming (Green River Formation), 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 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.