A RARE sheet of 10 stamps depicting Audrey Hepburn fetched 430,000 euros (US$606,000) at a charityauction 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 profitableoutcome to a botched stamp series that should have been destroyed years ago - and evokes Hepburn's starring role in the 1963 thriller "Charade," in which the characters chase a set of rare stamps.

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 on 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 printed 14 million of the Hepburn stamps in 2001 showing the Belgian-born 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.

"In the original photo, she's got sunglasses hanging from her mouth, but they had flipped the negative and replaced the glasses with the cigarette holder," he told The Associated Press.

Ferrer suggested using either the original photo or an alternative, but the postal service ended up scrapping the stamp and ordering those that were produced to be destroyed.

Deutsche Post says it saved only two sheets of the stamps - one for its own archive and one for the German Post Museum. But in 2004, a single stamp with Hepburn smoking, postmarked Berlin, landed on auctioneer Andreas Schlegel's desk.

"I was obviously very surprised, because they never were supposed to be used as stamps at all," Schlegel said.

• berlin [bə:´lin] n.柏林 (初中英语单词)
• educate [´edjukeit] vt.教育；培养；训练 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• obviously [´ɔbviəsli] ad.明显地；显而易见地 (初中英语单词)
• supposed [sə´pəuzd] a.想象的；假定的 (初中英语单词)
• charity [´tʃæriti] n.施舍；慈悲；博爱 (高中英语单词)
• holder [´həuldə] n.所有物；土地；股份 (高中英语单词)
• profitable [´prɔfitəbəl] a.有益的；有用的 (高中英语单词)
• postal [´pəustl] a.邮政的 n.明信片 (高中英语单词)
• actress [´æktris] n.女演员 (高中英语单词)
• hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)
• negative [´negətiv] a.否定的 n.否定词 (高中英语单词)
• auction [´ɔ:kʃən] n.&vt.拍卖 (英语四级单词)
• outcome [´autkʌm] n.结果；后果；成果 (英语四级单词)
• copyright [´kɔpirait] n.版权；著作权 (英语四级单词)
• alternative [ɔ:l´tə:nətiv] a.二中选一的 n.选择 (英语四级单词)