CANTERBURY.- The Canterbury Auction Galleries have been instructed to sell the contents of Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd, one of the principal dealers in minerals, fossils and natural history curiosities since the shop was established in London in 1850. The single-owner auction will have its own dedicated catalogue and is on June 12.

In 2008, the business and all the old stock, original Victorian cabinets, display cases, books, specimens and geological antiques were moved from the capital to Walmer in Kent. These are now all included in the auction following Brian and Mary Lloyd's decision to retire.

The business was founded in 1858 by James Reynolds Gregory and is one of the longest surviving mineral specimen suppliers in the world. Gregory was educated at Archbishop Tenison's School In London, and worked first as an assistant in a silk and jewellery company in Regent Street.

In 1858, at the age of 26, he established a business of his own selling minerals, fossils and polished stones from premises in King William Street. A few years later he moved to more extensive premises in Golden Square where he soon gained a reputation as one of the best dealers in the city, exhibiting at many of the major commercial shows in London and elsewhere. He won awards for the excellence of his specimens at exhibition in Paris in 1867; Sydney in 1879 and in London in 1862, 1883 and 1884.

Gregory supplied many of the major collectors of his day, as well as scientists needing samples for research purposes. He built a superb personal collection of meteorites from several hundred falls, a collection later broken up and sold by his sons, a large portion going to the British Museum. He also wrote several papers on meteorites and was a member of the Geological Society, the Mineralogical Society, the Mineralogical Society of France and of the Society of Arts.

On the death of his father in 1899, Albert Gregory took over the business, dealing from various premises in the Kensington area before finally settling at 30 Old Church Street in Chelsea, where he established an extraordinary showroom using his late father's cabinets, devoted to minerals, fossils and educational specimens. He eventually sold the company in 1932 to Percy Bottley, formerly a dealer in geological supplies in Derby, who in deference to his predecessors renamed it Gregory, Bottley & Company.

Percy and his wife, Winifred, continued to deal from the same premises, using the same 19th century showcases and cabinets to display their collections. They built the business up to international success supplying museums, universities and private collectors including crowned heads and famous personalities. Even during the Second World War the business continued unabated and several excellent private collections were acquired and sold.

After the death of Percy Bottley, the well known premises in Church Street were sold in 1982. The company was acquired by Brian Lloyd who had started the natural history sales at Sotheby's before dealing in minerals and fossils on his own account from premises in Pall Mall.

Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd, as it was then known, traded from Rickett Street and later Seagrave Road in Fulham. The business and all the old stock, cabinets and geological curios were moved out of London to Walmer in 2008, operating from premises in Liverpool Road. Now it is all for sale to the highest bidder.

The sale will comprise more than 500 lots and is expected to raise around£100,000. It comprises 19th century watercolours, prints and engravings; mineral and fossil-related books, textbooks, encyclopaedias, monographs and catalogues; geological maps and surveys; a fascinating collection of minerals, fossils and precious and semi-precious gemstones from around the world and importantly, the Victorian mahogany, oak and pine display cabinets and runs of collectors' cabinets and drawers in which the pieces were exhibited, estimates for which range from £50-800.

An important collection of approximately 85 specimens of polished amber are mainly from Simovovel, near Chiapas, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Baltic, most containing well preserved insects including wasps, spiders, and termites. It will be offered with its six-drawer collector's cabinet and is estimated at £3,000-5,000.

The James Gregory Educational Fossil Collection, a massive number of fossils assembled by Gregory in the 19th century and added to over the subsequent years, is estimated at £1,000-2,000. It comprises more than 200 groups of exhibits from all the geological periods from Cambrian to Pleistocene, numerous specimens of each, contained in three Victorian 20-drawer cabinets and four Victorian 10-drawer cabinets.

An extremely rare set of 70 platinotype photographic prints of geological formations in the British Isles were selected from the British Association Collection by Professor Bonney, J.H. Teall and others, edited by Professor W.W. Watts and published in three parts by the British Photographs Committee, 1902-1904. The photographs are mounted on cards, each with full identifications front and back, as issued to subscribers over three years, the first in August 1902, the second July 1903 and the final 24 in January 1904. They are estimated at £1,000-2,000.

A collection of early glass plate negative and etched copper printers' blocks, the majority depicting geological specimens and equipment used in early Gregory, Bottley and Co. catalogues, are contained in a Victorian oak collector's cabinet fitted with 17 drawers and is estimated at £200-300.

The sale also offers the opportunity to own a number of meteorites as well as many unique specimens of natural history. A compete iron meteorite from the prehistoric Gibeon fall, Great Namaqualand, Namibia, weighs approximately 2kg, and is estimated at £300-500, while a Victorian collector's cabinet fitted with 10 drawers containing a collection of approximately 100 small meteorites and tektites is estimated at £400-600.

The collection is crammed with fascinating examples of natural history:

A piece of sandstone broken open to reveal a precious white opal from Queensland, Australia is estimated at £150-200.

Small gold nuggets from Californian and Russia: £250-350

A set of 12 replicas of famous diamonds, cut from cubic zirconia, in a velour covered fitted case, with printed details of each stone: £300-400

65 diamond crystals in various colours, each weighing approximately 0.75 carats, all from the Congo: £250-350.

Fossilised Jurassic pine cones from Cerro Cuadrado, Patagonia, three cones cut in half and polished to show the seeds: £350-400.

Ten fossilised specimens of the vertebrae of the extinct Jurassic crocodile Steneosaurus sp. found in Whittlesey, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: £250-300

Two Pleistocene mammal horns, thought to be bison; a Pleistocene fossil bone, possibly from a rhinoceros and two part mammoth teeth, all from the East Anglia: £100-200

Five glass display domes containing various specimens of salt from Germany: £200-300

A collection of 20 19th century and later turned Cornish Serpentine stone ornaments including a pair of table candlesticks, a baluster shaped vase and a lidded inkwell: £100-150

The list goes on and on.

The Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd Collection will go on public view at The Canterbury Auction Galleries in Station Road West, Canterbury, on Saturday June 7, 10am-4pm; Sunday April 6, 12pm-4pm; Monday June 9, 10am-7pm; Tuesday June 10 and Wednesday June 11, 8.30am-4pm and on the morning immediately prior to the sale, which starts at 10am.