Looking at pyrite's brassy gold coloring, you can understand how it can be mistaken for the real thing. You may not have struck it rich with a hunk of pyrite, but the mineral has been valued for millennia. Unlike gold, which forms in a shapeless mass, pyrite produces rough cubic shapes, an expression of their inner atomic symmetry.

This specimen is a Peruvian Pyrite Cluster, sourced from the from the Huanzalá Mine in Huánuco, Peru. Like all pyrite samples, it shows the mineral's propensity to form geometric shapes. Each pyrite cluster is shipped in a sturdy carton with an informational card which serves as certificate of authenticity. You can see all the currently available pyrite specimens as well as our pyrite portraits in the collection below.

Pyrite is a mineral composed of iron and sulfide with a brassy gold appearance, hence its common name, Fool's Gold. The mineral can grow on its own in crystal formations, or it can function as what’s called a replacement mineral in a rock or fossil. Atomically, pyrite has a cube shape, with the corners of the structures formed by smaller iron atoms and sulfur atoms suspended in the middle. This makes pyrite atomically dense, twice that of the average rock. Pyrite often forms in cubic shapes at the macro level, an expression of the inner structure.

Long before the science of pyrite was understood, the mineral had a deep cultural footprint. People of the ancient world were baffled by a mineral that decomposed under high temperatures and produced noxious gasses, it challenged their understanding of the natural world. Pyrite’s use as a firestarter also infused it with a kind of mythological heft. This influence appears throughout the historical record: there are traces of pyrite in ancient writings from across the world, from 4,000-year-old Sumerian cuneiform texts to Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia.

Sometimes fossils can become pyritized, with the mineral leaching into the bone’s pores. This occurs when a specimen is submerged in sediment that’s rich with iron; as the animal’s organic material begins to break down, it releases sulfide which interacts with the iron to produce pyrite, persevering the animal’s remains and infusing it with the replacement mineral. Pyritization is a specific kind of permineralization, a broader term that encompasses pyritization along with similar carbon and silicon-based processes.

In a recent twist, pyrite's value may start to rise. The mineral has been found to contain lithium, a valued element in creating batteries. Looks like pyrite might not be fool's gold after all!