Cretaceous Period, 100 million years B.P. A very large and complete hadrosaur dinosaur nest, likely Charonosaurus sp., comprising six complete eggs within original matrix, arranged as the dinosaur would have laid them; the eggs are fully covered in shell material, exhibiting evidence of the original leathery exterior, with minor cracking across the surface, as is usual from these fossils. See Liang, X., et al., Dinosaur eggs and dinosaur egg-bearing deposits (Upper Cretaceous) of Henan Province, China: Occurrences, palaeoenvironments, taphonomy and preservation, 2009, Progress in Natural Science; see Xing L, et al., Hadrosauroid eggs and embryos from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Jiangxi Province, China, 2022, BMC Ecology and Evolution. 8.38 kg, 31 cm (12 1/4 in.). From the Xixia Formation, Henan Provence, China. Private British collection, 1990. Private Shropshire, UK collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate no.11428-192269. Hadrosaurs were large dinosaurs, growing up to 10 metres in length, belonging to the ‘Duck-Billed’ group of dinosaurs. They are considered the ‘herd animal’ of the Cretaceous, having been found buried together in their thousands. Dinosaur egg fossils are known from approximately two-hundred sites around the word, particularly in Asia. This nest comes from the Xixia Formation, Henan region of China, which produces some of the best preserved eggs in the world. These eggs can yield entire embryos within them, making them an essential tool for understanding the biology of these creatures. [A video of this lot is available to view on Timeline Auctions Website.]