Treasure Hunting

What exactly are people talking about when they refer to fool’s gold?  It’s a term used to describe some other substance that may “fool” the casual gold hunter into believing that they’ve found gold when really all they’ve found is a rather common mineral or stone.  But are these other minerals or stones worth anything?

Take the picture to the left, a prime example of fool’s gold.  It sure is pretty, isn’t it?  It’s a photo from the user Thegreenj that has been posted in Wikimedia Commons.  It’s actually iron pyrite, one of the many minerals that has been referred to as fool’s gold over the years.  Other such substances include iron-copper pyrite or a goldish color of mica.  

Just because these things have been dubbed “fool’s gold”, they’re not totally worthless.  They’re just not worth as much as gold!  In fact, if you’re just treasure hunting for your own personal collection, some of these specimens can be great additions.  I happen to think that the geometric growths that form on iron pyrite can be extremely beautiful.  And mica has all sorts of uses as a pigmenting agent.  In fact, it’s used in a lot of cosmetics and art supplies.

So I guess the real lesson is to not be “fooled” into thinking that the fool’s gold you have found is real gold, but don’t consider it worthless either.  If it’s pretty to you, it will probably be pretty to someone else, too.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS