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The first day ceremony for the Grenada stamps honoring supermodel Heidi Klum was almost over. Everyone scheduled to speak had spoken; now the guest of honor was called up to the platform to receive a special presentation from Mystic Stamp Company president Don Sundman and his daughter Emily. Photographs were taken, and that seemed to be it. The dignitaries began to leave the platform, when Klum exclaimed, "Don't we show the people the stamps?" The blow-up the stamps hadn't been unveiled! Had she not spoken up, the ceremony would have broken up without ever showing the stamps.
A few minutes later, someone knocked the blow-up off the easel. Klum caught it and put it back.
That's Emily Sundman with Klum in the picture at the below.
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There was plenty of press, especially photographers, plus a German television crews to record the launch of the new stamps, and many collectors brought cameras as well.Later, in an interview with the Virtual Stamp Club, she called being on the stamps a great honor.
"When [Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation president] Sam Malamud called me, I thought he was joking," she said. "'Like on a real stamp, that you mail letters out and everything?'"
What's the difference between being on a stamp and being on a magazine cover?
"Being on a stamp is a part of history, it's something that will last beyond me," she replied. "I mean, a magazine does, too, but it's not like an official thing, like a stamp. That is something real and it's like wow!
"My father's been collecting stamps for a long time...now I'm his favorite stamp."
About the stamp album she was given, "that's pretty cool." The stamps in it include the Penny Black and U.S. No. 1. "I think it's a pretty good start for a collector."
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"I guess doing people you want to capture a certain image about that. It's not just like an animal or plant. You're just looking for that certain look," said IGPC stamp designer Esther Ainspan. "She pretty much took care of the sexiness. There wasn't much I had to do to enhance that, it was already there."After the ceremony, Klum signed the free American Philatelic Society first day covers for almost everyone who attended the event. That's VSC member Ron Walenciak with Klum in the picture at the right. During the ceremony, Heidi sat at the table in front of the podium while others spoke.
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VSC's Lloyd de Vries interviewing Heidi after the ceremony - hear Lloyd's exclusive interview of Heidi right here!:
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That's Sam Malamud of IGPC in the background.
Here's Rich Wolff of Linn's Online being interviewed by German television about attending the ceremony and obtaining a Klum cover:
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