Fool’s Gold — Pyrite Display Box

Description

It fooled prospectors for centuries. It’ll fool your kids for at least a few minutes.

Pyrite — better known as Fool’s Gold — is one of nature’s most convincing tricks. Brassy yellow, chunky, and metallic in appearance, it looks enough like real gold to have sent more than a few hopeful miners home empty-handed during the Gold Rush era. The resemblance isn’t accidental — pyrite shares gold’s color and metallic luster, and its weight and density made it feel like the real thing in the pan. By the time a prospector figured out the difference, they’d already gotten their hopes up.

What gives it away? A few things. Pyrite is brittle where gold is malleable — strike it against something hard and it sparks rather than flattens. It also has a distinct smell when broken, courtesy of its sulfur content. And under close inspection, pyrite tends to form in cubic or striated crystal structures that real gold doesn’t. Interesting to look at. Interesting to learn about. Genuinely beautiful in its own right.

This boxed set includes real pyrite pieces in a clear 1.5 x 2 inch display case, with educational information printed on the back. At under four dollars it’s one of the easiest pickups in the shop — a natural companion to a day at the gem mine, a solid party favor, or just a good-looking piece of geology to put on a desk.

• Genuine pyrite (Fool’s Gold) specimen (approx. 10 pieces)
• Clear plastic display box, 1.5 x 2 inches
• Educational information printed on reverse
• Great souvenir, party favor, or starter collectible