Museal pyritohedral Pyrite cluster

3D ModelNoAI

General Info: cluster of Pyrite from the “Carlo Allioni” collection (dating to the XVI century) showing dodecahedral/pyritohedral habit. The provenance of the sample is unknown as its original tag was lost.

Method: HD photogrammetry via Meshroom, with custom material. Original mesh was retopologized to quads before upload.

Trivia:Pyrite also known as “fool’s gold”, is a sulfide with formula FeS2. It usually develops nice cubic or octahedral crystals, but sometimes it is possible to find specimen with pentagonal faces. 5-fold symmetry is something hardly found in minerals since it is not compatible with crystal lattices, in pyrite the “pyritohedral”/dodecahedral arises from irregularities in the cubic faces growth. The best specimen also have “striation” marks caused by this growth.