On our forum we received a good question from a reader, who asked for information about famous people known to be stamp collectors. This gave us the idea of producing a ‘Top Ten’ of famous collectors . After some research I came up with the following:
Freddie Mercury
The singer from English rock band Queen collected stamps when he was a child. After his death his father sold Mercury’s collection to the Royal Mail. The proceeds of the sale were donated to an AIDS charity.
Nicolas Sarkozy
The 23rd President of France has collected stamps since his youth, he seems to have built by now an impressive collection
In 2004, Sarkozy received from Queen Elizabeth a series of stamps commemorating the Entente Cordiale, during his stay at Windsor Castle.
During his governorship of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger presented the French president with an album filled with stamps plus two first day cover envelopes fromCalifornia. Sarkozy sponsors the Philatélique Club de l’Élysée.
Queen Elizabeth II
The United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth has collected first day cover envelopes from the UK and overseas since 1952.
Ronnie Wood
Guitarist Ronnie Wood, famous for his work with, among others, The Faces and The Rolling Stones also collects stamps.
Maria Sharapova
Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova collected stamps when she was a child.
This was mentioned during an interview. She was later to regret making this admission as she said that she was afraid that it would not be good for her image!
Anatoly Karpov
Chess Grand Master Karpov has an enormous collection of stamps from Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
Jacques Cousteau
The French explorer and researcher, who died in 1997, collected French stamps. In 2001 France issued a commemorative stamp depicting Cousteau.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The 32nd President of the United States of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was an enthusiastic collector of stamps. During his presidency he did much to promote philately. He collected American stamps and also proofprints.
Patrick Dempsey
This American actor, mainly known for his role in the successful TV series Grey’s Anatomy has collected stamps since his youth.
Warren Buffet
Investor and businessman Warren Buffet has indicated many times in interviews that he collects stamps. He collects classic stamps of the United States of America.
This top 10 is a list of known famous philatelists but possibly could become a Top 20, 50 etc.
Do you know of anyone who could be added to the list? Let us know by placing a reaction to this story. I look forward to your messages.
[…] stamp collecting is impossibly old-fashioned? Try telling that to tennis star Maria Sharapova. If you’re the kind of person who likes to collect things but don’t have room to house a large […]
Hollywood actor, Glen Ford, was an avid collector,
Charlie Chaplin, Simon Wiesenthal, Ayn Rand and Rainier III, the late prince of Monaco, to name but a few.
One might find it interesting to have a look at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s dedicated page:
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/noteworthy-stamp-collectors
Gary Burghoff. Played Radar in MASH movie and series. He belonged to the NY Collector’s Club at one time.
i love mash the army picture it was cool to watch so many memories
Ernest Borgnine, Erwin Rommel