Bulgarian Pyrite
Pyrite is iron sulfide (FeS2) and the most common sulfide mineral on Earth. Its brassy metallic yellow earned it the nickname fool's gold, and its name comes from the Greek word for fire, because it throws sparks when struck against steel; it was once used to light fires and in early wheellock guns. Pyrite grows as sharp cubes, octahedrons and twelve-sided pyritohedrons, often with fine parallel lines across the cube faces. Its close relative chalcopyrite, a copper iron sulfide, is the most important ore of copper.
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Mineral guide
Bulgarian Pyrite
Bulgarian pyrite
The pyrite in this collection comes from Bulgaria. In the ore veins of the Rhodope Mountains, pyrite and chalcopyrite crystallised together with galena, sphalerite and quartz, so Bulgarian pyrite usually appears as bright brassy cubes scattered over a darker base rather than as a single large crystal. Chalcopyrite specimens are included here too: chalcopyrite is a deeper brass-yellow and often shows an iridescent purple and blue tarnish.
Did you know?
Pyrite is known as fool's gold because its brassy color is easily mistaken for the real thing. Yet it can actually contain real gold: in 2021 researchers at Curtin University in Australia reported tiny amounts trapped in defects inside pyrite crystals, visible only with an instrument called an atom probe.
At Navajún in Spain, pyrite forms cubes so regular that people often assume they were cut by hand.
How to recognise pyrite
Pyrite is hard for a metallic mineral, Mohs 6 to 6.5, and brittle, while real gold is soft enough to dent with a pin. Rubbed on unglazed porcelain, pyrite leaves a greenish-black streak; gold leaves a yellow one. Chalcopyrite is much softer, Mohs 3.5 to 4, and a knife scratches it.
Caring for pyrite
Keep pyrite dry. In damp air some pyrite slowly reacts with moisture and oxygen, forming a white powder and dulling the surface, a process collectors call pyrite decay. Avoid washing it; dust it with a soft dry brush and store it in a dry room, away from bathrooms and damp basements.
The title of each listing names every mineral in the piece. Each listing shows the weight and photos of the actual specimen.