A collector sheet of ten stamps, featuring the world famous actress Audrey Hepburn, were sold at a UN charity auction in Berlin this week for the staggering price $606,000.

The stamps bearing a photograph of Audrey Hepburn wearing a wide-rimmed hat, with a cigarette holder between her teeth, were sold for a lot more than their face value. All the proceeds of the auction will go to Unicef and the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund

Her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer said “My mother always told me, ‘I didn’t make a perfume or go sell toilet paper. I did something good with my name’.”

Ferrer is the manager of Hepburn’s estate. Nine years ago,  the production of these commemorative stamps were stopped by Mr Ferrer himself as he believed the image had been digitally altered and would also glamorize smoking.

As owner of the rights to the image and due to the fact that he had not been consulted, $9.7 million worth of stamped were destroyed and reprinted with the cigarette airbrushed out of the new version of the stamp.

Ferrer said “It is simply marvelous that a set of stamps with a face value of 16 marks can be auctioned for €430,000 in the end and will serve a good purpose.

“I feel wonderful that we are able to turn something around that started on the wrong foot that is now going to help a lot of people around the world.”

The name of the very lucky collector who now owns what probably is the most famous stamp issued in recent years was not disclosed.

published October 21st, 2010