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Sulfur is the element of war. It is the biblical brimstone (as in fire and brimstone), and it is one of the three ingredients in gunpowder. Like lead, gold, and phosphorous it is one of the classic elements of alchemy. Sulfur is also one of the elements with an absolutely unmistakable smell.
The smell of sulfur makes me think of gunpowder, because that's what I used to make with it as a teenager. Burning sulfur is unpleasant, but sulfur powder itself I find very pleasant, though possibly this is just because of its long association with the excitement of making fireworks and the like. Other people may find the smell less uplifting.
In addition to its warlike uses, sulfur is used in medicine and gardening, which means you can buy it in pharmacies and garden centers (see below for specific examples of each). This is great if you need some to make gunpowder.
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 Flowers of sulfur.
This sulfur was purchased at a Walgreens pharmacy in April 2002. They had only one partially used bottle left, which no one knew the use of!
Many years ago I used to buy sulfur and saltpeter from pharmacies to grind up into gunpowder (the carbon came from readily available charcoal). I had to be sure not to buy both sulfur and saltpeter from the same pharmacist. Back then neither seemed to raise any eyebrows, and I don't think I ever had to use my planned excuse that "my mom asked me to buy this for her, I don't know what she's going to do with it".
But in 2002, it seems people don't buy sulfur at the pharmacy anymore. I actually had half seriously planned to say "my wife asked me to buy this for her, I don't know what she's going to do with it", but when the stern-faced pharmacist asked me, staring over his glasses, what I planned to do with it, I broke down and told him the truth. It worked.
Click the story book icon to read about making gunpowder.
Source: Walgreens Pharmacy
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 18 April, 2002
Price: $2
Size: 2.5"
Purity: >95%
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 Crystals.
These are nice lumpy crystals of sulfur. Ah, the memories that smell brings back!
Source: Mark Rollog
Contributor: Mark Rollog
Acquired: 20 July, 2002
Price: Donated
Size: 0.3"
Purity: >95%
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Powdered sulfur from old chemistry set.
This bottle is from a 1950's chemistry set I got on eBay after consulting this trusty reference book about radioactive collectables. It's an "ATOMIC ENERGY" set (that kind of thing was big in the '50s), but it also includes an assortment of standard-issue chemistry set chemicals.
According to the book's table of going rates for these things, I got a good deal on the chemistry set, though it is not in perfect condition and is missing some components. Modern chemistry sets are pretty wimpy, but I have to say that, aside from the uranium ore and the radium, this set is pretty tame as well. It even proudly claims to contain "no dangerous or explosive chemicals". I mean really, where's the fun in that? Here's a picture of the set:
Source: eBay seller 6tomcat
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 10 January, 2003
Price: $58/chemistry set
Size: 1"
Purity: >95%
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Sample from the Everest Element Set.
Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (excepted gasses) weight about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid.
To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order.
Source: Rob Accurso
Contributor: Rob Accurso
Acquired: 7 February, 2003
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: >99%
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Old can of flowers of sulfur.
This can was sold for medicinal purposes probably 40-50 years ago from the look of it. The seller described it as an eight-pound can with about two pounds used, leaving six pounds in it. It definitely smells of sulfur! Unlike modern pharmacists, eBay doesn't ask any questions if you want to buy six pounds of antique sulfur.
Source: eBay seller wz2j
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 14 February, 2003
Price: $20
Size: 12"
Purity: >99%
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Soil Sulfur.
It turns out all my adventures in buying sulfur at pharmacies were quite unnecessary: You can buy it by the pound with no questions or funny looks at any garden supply store. It's used as a soil acidifier and pesticide, and can be had as crystals or powder (see next sample for powder form). Of course the purity is not nearly as high as pharmacy sulfur (my bag came with a "guaranteed analysis" of >90% sulfur). But that's good enough for me.
Source: Hardware Store
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 16 March, 2003
Price: $2.50
Size: 9"
Purity: >90%
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Dusting Sulfur.
This sulfur is similar to the one above, but is a fine powder instead of granular crystals. It's also about 90% pure.
Source: Hardware Store
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 16 March, 2003
Price: $3.20
Size: 9"
Purity: >90%
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Pyritized Ammonite.
A fossil is the impression left when the body of an ancient animal or plant is encased in some kind of mud or sand, which turns into rock over great expanses of time. After the matrix around the object has become firm enough to hold its shape, the object itself is slowly replaced by some other mineral that works its way in from the surrounding matrix. If all goes well, the rock or mineral formed where the body used to be is different enough from the surrounding rock or mineral that it's possible to separate them and rediscover the original shape of the object. (If it doesn't go well, either there's no fossil formed, or it's one that is so subtle you just don't notice it.)
A fossil can be formed out of all kinds of different minerals, so there are really two entirely separate ways to describe one: What it's a remnant of, and what it's made out of. This sample is a fossil of a type of animal called an Ammonite, but even more interestingly, it happens to be made of pyrite (iron sulfide), also known as "fool's gold" because it looks a lot like gold.
Imagine that: An animal shape recreated in shiny gold crystals, and it's an entirely natural process. Amazing.
Technical details: This is a Pleurocerus Ammonite from the Jurassic age, found in Nuremburg, Germany.
Source: indiana9 Fossils
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 29 March, 2003
Price: $15
Size: 1.5"
Composition: FeS2
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Pyritized Ammonite.
This ammonite was tagged as a Quenstediceras sp. from the Jurassic age (161 million years old), Callovain Stage, Ulyanovsk, Russia. The matrix of rock it's attached to shows very nice pyrite crystals. See the sample information above for more about this type of fossil.
Source: Time Trips
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 29 March, 2003
Price: $12.95
Size: 1.5"
Composition: FeS2
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Pyritized Ammonite.
See the previous two samples for more information about this type of fossil. This is not, I repeat not, an artificially enhanced sample! It's not plated or painted or metalized, just cut and polished to bring out the natural shine of the pyrite crystal.
Source: Exclusive Fossils/Nord Fossil
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 29 March, 2003
Price: $25
Size: 1.5"
Composition: FeS2
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