Hepburn stamps garner $606,000

BERLIN – A rare sheet of 10 stamps depicting Audrey Hepburn fetched $606,000 at a charity auction in Berlin, two-thirds of which will go to help educate children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The mint-condition sheet of 10 stamps featuring Hepburn, a coy smile on her face and a long, black cigarette holder dangling from her lips, brought a profitable outcome to a botched stamp series that should have been destroyed years ago.

Sean Ferrer, 50, Hepburn’s son with actor and director Mel Ferrer and the chair of the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, said he was thrilled that the sale Saturday brought “focus on children in need,” but wished the stamps had sold for a higher price.

Two-thirds of money raised will go to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, and one-third to UNICEF Germany.

The German postal service originally printed 14 million of the Hepburn stamps in 2001 showing the actress in her most famous role as the ebullient Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Only after the stamps were printed was Sean Ferrer contacted to grant copyright – but he refused, arguing that the image had been altered.

Deutsche Post says it saved only two sheets of the stamps – one for its own archive and one for the German Post Museum.

Ferrer eventually signed a contract with the German Finance Ministry, securing rights to sell the stamp sheet for charity.