Dr Collon was with the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities (later Ancient Near East and later still Middle East) at the British Museum from 1964 to 1968, and again from 1977 to 1988; she gained a full-time position at the Museum as curator of Western Asiatic Antiquities from 1988 until her retirement in 2005; her retirement was marked by a symposium held at Magdalen College, Oxford in June 2005.