WSJ: Buying Baseball Cards Sight Unseen

As my unopened Rat Patrol packs sit in the closet waiting, just waiting…

Christmas comes for these niche collectors in May 2009, when 26 unopened cases of 1975 Topps Minis go up for sale through Robert Edwards Auctions in Watchung, N.J. The boxes come from the estate of lifelong collector Charlie Conlon, who first found the unusually small cards at a store. In fact, Topps was testing the smaller format around where Mr. Conlon lived in Michigan. Upon discovering this limited run, Mr. Conlon hit the stores and warehouses in his area and bought up what is believed to be hundreds of cases. (Mr. Conlon, who died in August, never revealed the exact number.) Inside each case are 16 boxes of cards. Inside each box are 36 packages that contain 10 cards each. In short, 149,760 cards are up for grabs.

According to Robert Lifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions, Mr. Conlon probably paid less than $1,000 for the 26 cases. No minimum has been set on the items yet, but Mr. Lifson says he expects each case to sell for at least $2,500. If his estimate is accurate, Mr. Conlon’s estate will realize $65,000 on a $1,000 investment.