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.

This is an unusual barite from Illinois. Beautiful bright honey-brown tabular crystals are mostly coating a plate of dark purple fluorite cubes. A very nice association. The worst damage is to the fluorite on the right side, but this could easily be displayed with the damage on the bottom.