A pigment of irregular-shaped particles is described which comprises crystallites of the empirical formula A.sub.x B.sub.y C.sub.z wherein A and B are different; A is cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, iron, manganese or any combination thereof; B is aluminum, chromium, molybdenum, iron, vanadium, manganese or any combination thereof; C is oxygen, selenium, tellurium or sulfur; x is 1, 2 or 3; y is 2 or 3; and z is greater than 3; the crystallites have an average size of from about 75 to about 600 Angstroms; and the surface area of the pigment particles is greater than zero up to about 20 m.sup.2 /g. In one embodiment, when the pigment contains a mixture of copper oxide, iron oxide, manganese oxide and no chromium, the pigment contains no more than 10% of manganese, and when the pigment contains copper oxide, chromium oxide, and manganese oxide, the pigment contains up to about 5% of manganese oxide, the mole ratio of chromium to copper is no greater than about 1.3 to 1.