Al Cerny Collection Al Cerny was a practicing mining engineer for over 30 years before retiring to South Carolina for the bass fishing. He worked at several mines including Sterling Hill near Franklin, New Jersey and the Northumberland Mine in Nevada where he was able to satisfy his collecting passion. Barite became his specialty, but the collection has far more than just barite.

It’s not too pretty, but it certainly displays well. This is a fairly large and sharp crystal for the mine, and is aesthetically perched on a floater matrix. The Kelly Mine is usually synonymous with smithsonte, but the occasional accessory mineral like this barite turns up. I asked Virgil Lueth about the Sunshine Tunnel attribution on the reverse of Al's label, and to his knowledge, there is no mine by that name in the area, but he has seen the attribution before.