uncommon
pyrite
"fool's gold" · its name is greek for fire
The tell
Fool's gold, in sharp cubes or cockscomb sprays. Brass-yellow with a hard metallic glitter, and hard is the word: a knife will not scratch it, where real gold is soft enough to dent. Crush a corner and the streak runs greenish-black, never yellow.
Here it lives in the Antrim shale, most often as brassy nodules and crusts rather than clean cubes, Alpena best. Fresh it flashes; weathered it dulls to a rusty brown crust.
What it gets mistaken for
- black shale
- gold
- marcasite
- chalcopyrite
The facts
- also called(fool's gold) · its name is greek for fire
- age~370 million yrs
- where it turns upAntrim shale · Alpena best
- the field marktoo hard for a knife · streak greenish black
- on the chartuncommon · 500 stickers ever
Put it on the shelf
Every stone on this chart is drawn and kiss-cut at three inches. The rarer the stone, the fewer exist: only 500 pyrite will ever be printed, then the run is retired.
10% of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters.