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Ralph
R. Zerbonia has been building a complete collection
of 1st, 2nd, 3rd & Proprietary Internal Revenue Proofs
since January of 1997.
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Initially,
it was the goal of The Collection to complete the 2nd Issue.
Ralph felt (along with other U.S. philatelic scholars), that
the 2nd Issue Proofs were the royalty of United States Internal
Revenue issues, and perhaps of the total emissions of The United
States ever. In the lower denominations, the beauty of blue
& black against fine india paper clearly showed the engraver's
art at its height. In the higher denominations, the art became
legend. It was not long before acquisitions took a small start
to a major collection.
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Then
by a matter of chance, The Collection acquired a hoard of 1st
Issue Revenue Proofs. This acquisition founded a new part of The
Collection and formed a solid base for a new goal. A goal to build
a complete collection of United States Internal Revenue Plate
Proofs of the 1st Three Issues, including Proprietary issues. |
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While
the acquisition of 2nd Issue items is still the joy of The Collection,
the goal is nearing completion. It may yet be years, if ever,
that all items are acquired for completeness, however, a new goal
is now apparent. The study of these items is part of the responsibility
of their ownership. And now that has become the focus of The Collection.
This site is being developed to sharpen that focus. The scanning
and examination by the author/owner is part of this study, yet
the Internet publication of these images and notes allows for
a far greater study to be made by philatelists across the planet.
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The
site is under continuing development.
Not all areas of The Collection
have yet been scanned and entered.
The Collection's extensive historical holdings
are in process of examination.
Full identification, including analysis,
annotation, and full scan are ongoing.
As this data becomes available
we shall
endeavor to make it available through this site.
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Ralph R. Zerbonia Collection Home Page
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