Was he a hoarder? Hard to say, Since he had the guy working for him who was putting together the stamp catalogues that were in use at the time. I don't think he was. He did worry about missing something so he would buy bogus issues just in case. He was very sharp about knowing what a fake was, but also wanted as complete of a collection as possible and he did just that. I too have been frustrated by the lack of information on him. If you do a deep dive, he was a fascinating person and pretty much had unlimited wealth. I doubt that any of his albums are intact, has anyone seen any at auction? Has anyone owned anything from him? He had a lot and stamped the back of his items so they are out there.
I've probably posted this before, but I did a talk at our stamp club a few years back about Ferrari and the book that dudley mentions is the best source.
Count Philippe de Ferrari de la Renotiere was born in Paris on January 11, 1850. He was the third child and the only one to survive adulthood of Raffaele de Ferrari and Maria Brignole Sale. His parents were at the top of the social ladder in Italy. Ferrari's dad collected, well, money. He had a library where his hid government bonds. His wife didn't know until he passed away. There was no shortage of funds in the family.
Ferrari was a sickly kid and his mom encouraged him to collect stamps, which he did at the age of 10 in 1860. His first stamp series he could recall collecting that he enjoyed were from the German State of Hanover depicting of King George the V. (Ferrari's were probably in better condition than mine) This was definitely foreshadowing as a collector from France enjoying German Stamps.
Ferrari was a quick study being fluent in French, Italian, German, English and Spanish was a definite plus. He was a brilliant student and upon graduating from his studies in 1871 he signed a 10 year contract to be a state teacher. He didn't really need to work, but he did like to nettle his father who expected him to behave and carry on the family name. When his father passed away in 1876, Phillippe renounced all his titles. He would still get an inheritance from his mother, who did adore him. It was no small inheritance.
In 1877 at the age of 27, Ferrari began
collecting collections. He bought Daniel Cooper's Collection who was the President of the Philatelic Society in London. The Austrian Section alone was 32 volumes. The entire collection cost 3,000 pounds, a huge sum in 1877. One year later for 150 pounds, he picked up the most famous of stamps, the British Guyana One cent Magenta.
Ferrari was active in the early Paris French scene, attended meetings and authored articles. He was keen on stamp varieties and was very good at spotting fakes. He wrote his first article at age 15 and the older collectors were somewhat bothered by the whippersnapper who had an uncanny knowledge of stamps. He hired Pierre Mahre to be his secretary. A wise choice too since Mahre published one of the earliest stamp catalogs in 1863. His first catalog was 14 pages long and had 1,493 varieties of stamps.
When his mother died in 1888, Ferrari became more isolated. He did enjoy travel and liked to visit England and other countries. While living in France, he was in fact quite generous with his money, although he traveled discreetly. Few had access to his collections. Charles Phillips, who ran Stanley Gibbons Stamp Company for a time, was one of the few to see Ferrari's stamp collection and the activity that would be surrounding it. Ferrari's albums were quite simple. They were a sheet of paper like an 81/2 by 11 sheet folded in half, with two rows of stamps with mint and used and any varieties. These were bound in folders and put on bookshelves. If a collection he acquired stuck his fancy, he kept it complete. His extra stamps were parked on top of the bookcases to gather dust. He never sold anything and rarely traded.
Many stamp dealers would reach out to sell stamps to Ferrari via telegrams. Ferrari was not an easy sell. He stopped buying collections after his first big acquisitions and preferred to pick up only what he needed. However, If a stamp struck his fancy, he immediately would hop on a train to get it. Many times Ferrari set the price.
It was said that Ferrari spent about 10,000 pounds a year on stamps. At the front of his stamp room, while the secretaries worked, there was a board with sharpened nails on it and various Franc notes would be on these nails to be used for stamp purchases. Larger purchases would be paid for by check.
Over time he spent more time in other countries such as Austria instead of France and by WWI he was living in Switzerland and would have parts of his collection sent to him there from France.
He passed away due to kidney failure in 1917. In his elaborate will he had money set aside to a long list of people who helped him out through the years, including money for philatelic societies such as the London Philatelic Society. He wished that his collection would go to the Berlin Postal Museum. This was too much to bear for French authorities smarting after WWI and they promptly confiscated his collection to auction for war repatriations for Germany. His great rarities including the one cent magenta were auctioned off in a series of 14 auctions. The amount raised was 30 million Francs, roughly 18 million dollars today. The stamps left in Switzerland went to the family. Thus was the end of a collection that could never be accomplished again. Ferrary is featured on a 1968 stamp of Liechtenstein, 30 rp red brown, Scott no. 448, SG no. 496
More on Ferrari
https://blog.delcampe.net/magazine/...ne-17-en.pdf In this blog the definitive work on Ferrari is highlighted. Wolfgang Maassen's book: The Mysterious Phillipe De Ferrari is available for checkout from the APS library. It has extensive research and has an overview of the Ferrari auctions too.
Posted 09/01/2025 6:41 pm
