Polished 'Orca' Agate Display Pillar

An irregular sandstone matrix set with a Mosasaur prognathodon sp. and an Otodus obliquus sp. teeth and other fossils. 301 grams, 10 cm



From Morocco, North Africa. From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.

The Mosasaur is an extinct, large marine reptile dinosaur with an elongated 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 very large Entada gigas or sea bean pod, containing nine separate sea bean segments; rare. 419 grams, 79 cm

Fine condition. Rare.

From Madagascar. Ex private Shropshire, UK collection.

Entada gigas, the ‘sea bean’ or ‘monkey ladder vine’ is a flowering liana in the Fabaceae pea family. The plant has the longest seed pods in the family, as well as the largest seeds, which can float for miles along sea currents, being washed up on beaches around the world. The seed pod segments snap off, dropping into the river below. The pod segment will quickly rot, revealing the seed or ‘sea bean’ inside. The seed contains a sealed pocket of air, which enables it to float. It can survive for up to two years at sea, and actually requires prolonged exposure to water in order to germinate. Some of these seeds will find their way into the major sea currents, such as the Gulf Stream, and end up washed up on coasts around the world.

With neural arch, from the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis. 305 grams, 11.8 cm

Fine condition.

From Brown Bank, Dogger beds, Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK. Collected between 1930 and 1960. From the collection of the palaeontologist R Gledhill.