A rare sheet of 10 stamps showing (1)(act) Audrey Hepburn smoking has been sold for 430,000 Euros at a charity auction in Berlin.
The German Postal Service printed 14 million of the stamps in 2001 showing Hepburn with a long, black cigarette holder hanging from her lips. The stamps were printed as part of a series featuring classic film stars, but it was only after production that Sean Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn's son, was contacted for copyright (2)(permit). He was sent a sheet for approval but he refused to grant copyright, saying the image had been altered. In the (3) (origin) photo, Hepburn has sunglasses hanging from her mouth, but they were replaced with the cigarette holder. So the postal service ordered the stamps to be destroyed. (4)(lucky), two sheets were saved, one for the Postal Service Archives and one for the German Post Museum.
Last month, stamp (5)(collect) Andreas Schlegel contacted Mr Ferrer to suggest asking the (6)(govern) if they could sell one of the archived stamp sheets for charity. However, Mr Ferrer offered the sheet he had been sent in 2001 and still had in his (7)(possess) to be auctioned.
Two-thirds of the money (8)(raise) will go towards the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund, while a third will go to Unicef.