BONN - A collector has stumbled across what may be the 21st century's rarest postage stamp: a German special issue that was withdrawn from sale and supposedly pulped before it ever reached post offices.
So far it is the only known specimen ever to have gone into circulation, and valuers have told Werner Duerrschmidt, 57, the unique stamp could be auctioned for between EUR 20,000 and EUR 50,000.
Printing of the 1.10-Deutschmark issue, which featured movie star Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), began on 28 August, 2001 at the orders of Germany's Finance Ministry, which has sole stamp-issuing authority.
Berlin had not reckoned however with the Hepburn family. A son objected to the use of his mother's image and three weeks later the project was cancelled. Postal authorities ordered the destruction of all the sheets, well before they went on sale.
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