Orpiment

A golden-yellow arsenic sulfide with a pearly sheen. Toxic.

Orpiment specimen — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify orpiment

Lemon to golden yellow with a pearly cleavage face.
Flexible flakes.
Very soft.

Often confused with

Sulfur
Sulfur is paler, lighter and burns with a blue flame.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Getchell mine, Nevada
Quiruvilca, Peru
Yakutia, Russia
Turkey

Uses

Historic yellow pigment.

Rock tumbling

Not suitable for tumbling. Toxic (arsenic).

Did you know?

Its name comes from Latin auripigmentum, 'gold pigment'.

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