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Your specimen is a piece of pyrite which also
known as fools gold. Pyrite is a common mineral which can have cubic or
octahedral crystals with the crystal faces often having striations (lines across
them). It forms in lots of different rocks as a result of a variety of processes
and occasionally replaces or coats fossils, leaving fantastic gold-coloured
shells and fish.
When scratched across an unglazed piece of white pottery pyrite leaves a
greenish black streak which is one of its main characteristics. It used as a
source of sulphur during the production of sulphuric acid and can be found in
large quantities in south west Spain, Tasmania, Japan and Germany.
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