Conlon Collection Consigned to REA

The sports collecting hobby lost one of its most recognizable names this summer with the death of Charles Conlon.

A long-time collector of vintage baseball cards, Conlon cornered the market on 1975 Topps mini wax boxes 33 years ago, buying hundreds of cases and offering them for sale one at a time. The proceeds from selling the fairly scarce regional issue wax boxes and cases helped Conlon expand his collection of rare cards. Based in Ypsilianti, MI, Charlie Conlon was a regular advertiser in hobby publications, and attended hundreds of card shows where he spent hours negotiating deals to buy and sell cards.

Conlon's sudden passing in August has left his substantial collection in the hands of Robert Edward Auctions, which announced in a blog post/tribute on Thursday that it would be selling the cards in the company's next auction, scheduled for the spring of 2009.