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A stamp or not?

The Stamp Collecting Report. I'm Lloyd de Vries.

A rare German stamp honoring actress Audrey Hepburn sold recently at an auction in 
Berlin for almost 94-thousand dollars. But...IS it a stamp?

Hepburn was supposed to be part of a Two Thousand One set of stamps featuring movie 
stars. The photo chosen for the Hepburn design is from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," one 
of her most popular roles, where she sang the hit song-- 

Hepburn singing "Moon River"
establish and under
RUNS :04

The stamp design shows her with a cigarette holder in her mouth.

But her son objected to a stamp showing her smoking, and refused to grant permission. 
So all 14 million copies were destroyed.

All, that is, except 30 that had been sent to Deutsche Post as proofs. An employee 
filched them and used some on letters mailed from Berlin. Five are known to exist now.

However, the stamps were never sold. So are they really stamps?

Probably -- because some of these Audrey Hepburn stamps actually did carry mail, the 
function of postage stamps. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting, 
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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