Taxidermy & Natural History

The Bohemian glassmaker Leopold Blaschka’s fascination with marine life began in 1853, when the ship in which he was travelling to the US became becalmed off the Azores.

This skeleton of an extinct cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) sold for £17,000 in Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) Natural History and Taxidermy Sale.

Talk of ‘mammoth’ sales usually entails a sizeable selection of lots.

Whether it is a collection accumulated by a family often over generations or amassed through the efforts of an individual, such sales can deliver big results - especially now for regional auction houses winning consignments

Published between 1750-73, Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortis curiosorum (‘A selection of plants from natural specimens nurtured in London’s curious gardens’) is considered the most important botanical work ever printed in Germany.

The Science, Medicine & Early Technology auction at Flints (25% buyer’s premium) in Thatcham, Berkshire on May 1 was led by a complete seven-volume set of The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain by James Sowerby (1757-1822).

The eggs of the extinct Aepyornis maximus or elephant bird are the largest of any known species.

A Victorian cased pair of the extinct New Zealand huia sold for £220,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) in Tennants’ Natural History and Taxidermy sale.

Over the past decade the buyer profile has widened as fossils and minerals become decorative objects