NEW YORK - Frank Sinatra competed against 50,000 others - and won.

That's how many annual proposals are made for new U.S. postage stamps. The late crooner's face appeared on one of them Tuesday, with Frank Sinatra Jr. on hand to honour his father's memory. "When we have the U.S. Postal Service making the announcement that there are 50,000 suggestions per year, out of which 20 are selected - if that isn't the very embodiment of the American Dream, well, I don't know what is," Sinatra said at a ceremony in Manhattan.

"He was a fellow off the streets of Hoboken, N.J.," he said.

The 42-cent Sinatra stamp went on sale Tuesday in New York, Las Vegas and Hoboken, where Sinatra was born. New York and Las Vegas were among his favourite haunts.

His daughter Tina Sinatra joined Postal Service governor James Bilbray in a dedication ceremony Tuesday in Las Vegas.