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. 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 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 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 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)