Is it gold? Gold is heavier than pyrite, so it should feel heavy in your hand. Stick a needle in it. Gold is soft, malleable, and won’t chip. Likewise, the edges of its crystals smooth easily, so it’s rare to find sharply defined crystals. Gold is shiny even when it is dry and in the shade. But the sad fact is, if you found it on the ground, it is probably not gold…

This might be worth something, however: There was a printing error in Once Upon an Earth Science Book. The erosion diagram (a process that often reveals gold!) on p. 53 was cut off. You can find a PDF of the corrected image here.