Natural History
The world of natural history literally includes everything under the sun and reached its first highpoint among collectors during the Victorian era, when classifying and collecting natural specimens became a popular hobby. During this period the collections housed inside the British Museum outgrew their quarters, leading to the establishment of the Natural History Museum on South Kensington’s Exhibition Road. Boasting over seventy million classified items and specimens it is one of the most important collections in the world.
In addition, the collections of the Natural History museums of Paris and New York are on an almost equal par. In Geneva, Switzerland, the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de la Ville de Genève is home to Lucy, the most famous of all Australopithecus Afarensis, one of the earliest human beings. In recent auction highlights, the arm of an Edmontosaurus annectens achieved $14,640 at Bonham & Butterfields in London in October 2009.
Collecting rare minerals and fossils has become an increasingly popular hobby. Auctions can be a great way to both research and add to your mineral or fossil collection. The Natural History Collector's Guide is a resource designed to help collectors find information about rare fossil and mineral values and bid on natural history lots in live auctions. Find information about natural history items, images for each group of collectibles, lots upcoming at live auctions, and prices realized for lots previously sold at auctions. Navigate among the collections below featuring fossils, dinosaur eggs, sawfish bills, gold nuggets, petrified wood, and much more!
- Abalone
- Alabaster
- Ammonites
- Aventurine
- Azurite
- Blue John
- Butterfly Specimens
- Cretaceous
- Dinosaur Bones
- Dinosaur Eggs
- Geodes
- Gold Nuggets
- Jurassic
- King of Prussia Marble
- Labradorite
- Malachite
- Obisidian
- Permian
- Petrified Wood
- Platinum Nuggets
- Porphyry
- Rhodonite
- Sawfish Bills
- Shagreen
- Smoky Quartz
- Taxidermy
- Tiger Iron
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