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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations June 21-22, 2003:


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


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


Does a postage stamp have to be pretty?


The question is raised by the upcoming Stop Family Violence stamp, a charity
issue scheduled for November. The design, unveiled last weekend, shows a
child-like chalk or crayon drawing of a woman crying outside a house.


It's not a warm-and-fuzzy picture. But how else would you illustrate this
stamp, which will raise money for charities that help prevent domestic
abuse? People who work with these victims say this is the sort of picture
their children draw.


More than twenty years ago, the Postal Service issued a stamp against
drinking too much. It was text only, and said "Alcoholism: You can beat it."
It was a flop. Who wanted to put a message like that on a birthday card to
Aunt Martha?


Whether this Stop Family Violence stamp succeeds will depend in large part
on the support the stamp's sponsors can muster for it. Each stamp sold will
raise about eight cents for the cause.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

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