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The Brace Collection, which we tracked about a week ago, was only part of the historic holdings that failed entrepeneur John Rogers owned, or possessed.

Just this past Wednesday, January 20th, Arkansas Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza, who has been overseeing the myraid of lawsuits and charges surrounding Rogers and his business, authorized court-appointed receiver Michael McAfee to put up for sale the 7,500 remaining glass plate negatives that comprise the Conlon Collection.

This, from the Arkansas Business Journal, which has tracked the Rogers story from the beginning:

Also Wednesday, Piazza approved the future auction of the Conlon Collection, which Rogers once owned. The order allows sales efforts to proceed for an estimated 7,500 glass-plate negatives produced by photographer Charles Conlon (1868-1945).

McAfee indicated it will likely be summer before an auction is held.

The Conlon Collection that Rogers acquired in June 2010 numbered about 8,300 pieces. McAfee said he wasn't sure what happened to reduce the count to about 7,500 before he came aboard and inventoried assets.

"Some of the Conlon plates seem to have evaporated," McAfee testified.

Ownership of the collection is in dispute, with competing claims totaling more than 100 percent. But the only opposition to the sale was made by five people associated with Legendary Auctions of Lansing, Illinois: Doug Allen, Mark Theotikos, Bill Fulton, Amy Allen and Dale Huizena. Referred to collectively as the Allen parties, they claim outright ownership of about 185 Conlon negatives, which largely consisted of images of Hall of Fame players. These glass plates were held in Illinois until a court-order led to their return late last year.

Steve Niswanger, attorney for the Allen parties, said his clients' plates represented the most valuable part of the collection and they would be financially harmed if the plates were included in the auction. The Allen parties represent a combined 56 percent ownership claim, while the 185 plates they had represented about 2.4 percent of the collection.

Piazza said the particulars of who is entitled to receive what portion from the Conlon Collection sale can be addressed in the future. Until then, money from the auction will be put in the court registry.

"We need to have some closure and try to salvage something for the people who have a claim on the collection," Piazza said.

McAfee testified that he was advised the sale of the entire collection as a whole would bring more money than if plates were sold piecemeal.

What is the value of the collection?

"I don't know," he told the court.

Rogers once placed an $18 million value on it, which seems to be tied to projections from marketing prints from the collection. Sources believe the collection should fetch something north of $2 million, twice what Rogers paid for the Conlon Collection and other assets owned by The Sporting News more than five years ago.