18 dealers
United Kingdom
Flagship: Marchand & Wycombe, Barnes (est. 2011) — British fossils and Victorian natural-history specimens.
Established London, 2011
Fifty specialist dealers. Fourteen European countries. One trusted register of provenance.
Every specimen in our marketplace passes through the hands of a vetted specialist — never a generalist reseller. The directory below is the working roster of that network, maintained since Henry Marchand opened the London archive in 2011.
Browse the Collection
II
Chapter II — On the Standard of Admission
A network is not a marketplace.
Fossil & Antique was founded in London in 2011 by Henry Marchand, a geologist who left a post at the Natural History Museum to trade full-time. The first eight dealers were drawn from a Lyon circle of mineralogists and natural-history restorers he had known for twenty years. The network has since grown to fifty specialists across fourteen countries — but it has never opened to applicants.
To be admitted to the register, a dealer must hold recognised trade accreditation (ASA or NAVA membership, or the European equivalent), maintain a documented archive of provenance for at least ten years of stock, and submit to an annual on-site review by one of our in-house geologists or accredited conservators. The standard is the reason the directory below is short rather than long.
- 50Specialist dealers, vetted annually
- 14European countries represented
- 13Years curating the register, since 2011
The Register
A selection from the network.
The full register holds fifty names. Below: twelve of the specialists whose work most often passes through our London archive. Portraits are documentary, not styled; years in trade are counted to the current year.
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N° 01
34 years in trade -
N° 02
27 years in trade -
N° 03
41 years in trade -
N° 04
29 years in trade -
N° 05
22 years in trade -
N° 06
36 years in trade -
N° 07
31 years in trade -
N° 08
18 years in trade -
N° 09
25 years in trade -
N° 10
24 years in trade -
N° 11
33 years in trade -
N° 12
19 years in trade
The remaining thirty-eight specialists are listed in the trade register issued annually to institutional buyers. To request the full document, contact our concierge.
Request the Full Register
Chapter II · The Vetting Process
Curated, never open.
Curated, never open.
How a dealer joins the network.
Any dealer can list online. Few are admitted to ours. The four-stage process below is what separates a marketplace from a network of specialists — and it is the reason collectors, interior designers, and university departments keep coming back.
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I
Written application & trade history
Applicants submit a full inventory sampling, three trade references, and proof of physical gallery, workshop, or storage premises. We verify business registration, tax status, and any prior complaints with national trade bodies before a single specimen is examined.
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II
On-site inspection
A senior member of our 42-strong team — one of seven certified geologists or three ASA/NAVA-accredited antique specialists — visits the dealer's premises in person. Cataloguing standards, conservation practice, and provenance paperwork are reviewed against our internal checklist.
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III
Six-month trial listings
Admitted dealers list for a probationary six months. Every transaction is monitored for authenticity disputes, shipping accuracy, and customer correspondence tone. Fewer than one in five applicants survives this stage.
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IV
Ongoing quality audits
Full membership is reviewed annually. Mystery-shopper purchases, random sample tests from incoming shipments, and periodic re-inspection of dealer premises keep standards from drifting. Dealers who fall short are removed; the network has shed twelve members since 2011.
The full vetting checklist — published in 2020 and now used by 1,400+ auction houses — is available on request from our concierge desk.
Geographic Footprint
Fourteen countries.
Fourteen countries.
Four anchor markets.
Fifty specialists.
The network is genuinely continental — not a London address reselling continental stock. Below, the four anchor markets that account for the majority of inventory, with named flagship dealers available for private appointments.
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14
European countries
in the network -
50
Specialist dealers,
independently operated -
42
In-house staff across
London and Lyon -
4.3yr
Average collector
relationship length
11 dealers
France
Flagship: Atelier Lévrier, Lyon — restored ammonites and Provençal antiquities.
7 dealers
Germany
Flagship: Solnhofen Werkstatt, Eichstätt — Solnhofen limestone fossils and Mesozoic vertebrates.
6 dealers
Italy
Flagship: Casa Petrini, Verona — Mediterranean marble specimens and antique decorative stone.
A photograph will tell you what a specimen looks like. It will never tell you what it is. That distinction — between appearance and identity — is the entire reason our network exists. Fifty dealers, fifty workshops, one signed certificate of authenticity on every parcel we send out. For the collector who cannot place their hand on the piece before they buy, that paper trail has to do the talking.
