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Oinspired collector of eighteenth-century French decorative arts from his early twenties. For instance, when he was only 21 years old, his first purchase was made of one of the most ostentatious rococo Sèvres ship vases from the Louis XV era. His development into one of the most renowned collectors of the 19th century, even amongst the Rothschilds, is known by the abundance of family letters in which he is referred to as "curiosity-hunting... all over Europe".[3] In the autumn of 1874, Ferdinand de Rothschild bought land in the village of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire from the Duke of Marlborough in order to build a property in which he could house his diverse collections. Between 1874 and 1889, architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur designed and built Waddesdon Manor, a 19th-century manor based on the 16th-century French Chateau de Chambord.[10] He sought to 'revive the decoration of the eighteenth century in its purity, reconstructing the rooms out of old material, reproducing them as they had been during the reigns of Louis'.[11] His collection of Renaissance objets d'art from the house was bequeathed to the British Museum – the Holy Thorn Reliquary being a highlight of the collection, though its distinguished provenance was still unknown. He willed Waddesdon Manor to Alice Charlotte von Rothschild, his unmarried younger sister, who had lived with him there. Yet, 'towards the end of his life, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild became increasingly concerned about the future of Wa