Pretty rocks of the day: Gold and Fool's Gold (Pyrite)

[stephbg]

There's gold in that there collection! Not a whole lot, but at last calculation enough to buy a new release DVD or paperback. Not AND, but OR. There's a lot more Fool's Gold though, but I think it's even more pretty.



This is what 0.02 ounces of gold looks like close up. I bought this at the Perth Mint.



I highly recommend the Perth Mint tour for residents and visitors alike. mortonhall they have a penny machine :-)

Here be a couple of healthy chunks of the real fool's gold, iron pyrite:



These are satisfyingly heavy.



Not sure where they came from. Pyrite's pretty common stuff.





Pyrite likes to grow amongst other things, and this is a cluster of quartz crystals embracing cubic iron pyrite crystals. Unfortunately the Great Shelf Collapse severely damaged this specimen; it used to have far more spectacular rosettes of quartz.





However, it has provided some nice closeups of individual crystals.