Maurice Jean Marie Burrus (8 March 1882 – 5 December 1959) was an Alsatian tobacco magnate, politician and

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible ...

. Originally from Alsace but residing in Switzerland, he was a deputy in the French parliament during the 1930s. His stamp collection was considered one of the greatest ever assembled and included some of the world's rarest stamps.

Early life

Maurice Burrus was born in Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines on March 8, 1882, to a family of tobacco industrialists. The family was based in the Alsace area, where they owned a chateau named after themselves. The family moved to Switzerland after the French government created a monopoly on the manufacture of tobacco products under Napoleonic laws. He was educated at Dole, in the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' classes préparatoir ...

and later in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

where he studied banking and learnt German before returning to Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines where he took over the running of the family tobacco factory. He also travelled to the United States, Canada, Mexico and

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Later life

During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

his anti-German sentiment was displayed by refusing to supply the German armies with tobacco, an act that got him a prison sentence of eight months and exiled from Alsace where his property was seized and sold. For this he received the French Médaille de la Fidélité. He was also awarded the

Croix de guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

and the Médaille des Proscrits d'Alsace (Exiles from Alsace medal). He died in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

in 1959.

Politics

Between 1932 and 1942, Burrus was a Deputy for

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

in the French Parliament of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

, first as an independent left party member until 1936 and then with the Independents of Popular Action.

Philately

Burrus began to collect stamps at the age of seven after old family mail found in their attics spurred his interest. In collecting, Burrus was a completist and he had the funds to allow him to be so. In a 1922 issue of ''The Philatelic Magazine'' he suggested that a collector's aim was: He owned some of the rarest and most expensive stamps known, such as the 1886 Dominican 6 pence Queen Victoria stamp with a "one penny"

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a Postage stamp, postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or Ticket (admission), ticket after it has been Printing, printed. Post offices most often use ...

error and an 1851 New Carlisle Postmaster's Provisional on cover that sold in 2010 for €280,000. In 1923 he acquired the only complete known unused sheet of 20 of the 1850 “Dreier Sachsen” (Saxony) stamps previously in the collection of

Philipp von Ferrary Philip Ferrari de La Renotière (January 11, 1850 – May 20, 1917) was a noted French-born stamp collector, assembling probably the most complete worldwide collection that ever existed, or is considered likely to exist. Among his extremely rare ...

and sold it prior to the rest of his collection being sold around 1964. Burrus had acquired about a quarter of Ferrary's collection. By the time of his death in 1959, he owned five copies of the Mauritius "Post Office" stamp.

Accolades

Burrus was a member of the '' Académie de philatélie'' for more than 30 years and in 1955 he was invited to sign the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921 to honour those who have advanced philately through research, expertise, or service. ...

. In the same year ''Life'' magazine wrote that in their opinion, he had one of the three "truly great stamp collections worldwide in scope". He was commemorated in 1968 by the

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

post office when he was one of five notable collectors included on a set of stamps issued that year.

Disposal of collections

The Burrus collection was connected to the

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

run by Dr Paul Singer, manager of the Irish-based Shanahan Stamp Auctions that existed in the 1950s, one of the greatest scandals in philately. In 1959 Singer negotiated the purchase of the Burrus collection for $6,000,000, to be paid in several instalments and the first portion was purchased for a price above its accepted valuation. A robbery at the firm's premises took place the night before the first scheduled auction of Burrus stamps but the thieves only stole other materials and a small portion of the stamps were retrieved the following day. The robbery led to the exposure of the Ponzi scheme, several lawsuits, and the liquidation of Shanahans. The liquidator contracted Robson Lowe to dispose of the Burrus material between 1962 and 1964.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrus, Maurice 1882 births 1959 deaths People from Haut-Rhin People from Alsace-Lorraine Politicians from Grand Est Independents of the Left politicians Republicans of the Centre politicians Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French philatelists Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)