From correspondents in London, England, 11:00 PM IST

A rare stamp featuring actress Audrey Hepburn is set to go on sale in Germany, eight years after its entire print run had to be destroyed due to her son's objections.

Contactmusic.com reports that the stamps were commissioned by the German government in 2001 as part of a collection featuring portraits of stars including Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo.

But Hepburn's son, Sean Ferrer, objected to the photo of his late mother, which had been used on the stamp because it showed her with a cigarette holder dangling from her lips.

He refused to grant copyright and all of the stamps were destroyed apart from 30 advanced copies which were saved from destruction by a postal employee and now one of the only five surviving copies is set to go under the hammer in Berlin.

It has a reserve bid set at $41,959 (27,972 pounds).

(Staff Writer, © IANS)