Phone brand

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Telephone brand from Kazakhstan
Israeli brand of telephone that was in use until the late 1980s

Telephone tokens were once widely used token substitutes for use on private or public telephones before they were replaced by phone cards . These brands were in use in many countries in Europe , North and South America , as well as Israel , Japan and some other Asian countries. They were still used in Turkey and Ecuador , among others, until the 21st century .

term

In Germany, the official name is "Fernsprechwertmarke". Colloquially, the term telephone coin has or had become established. The term telephone brand is often used among collectors (although in numismatics and philately it denotes different items). In other regions the following names are common:

  1. In the English-speaking world: telephone token
  2. In the Italian-speaking area: gettone telefonico
  3. In the Spanish-speaking area: ficha de teléfono
  4. In the Russian-speaking area: token

Earliest phone brands

Telephone brands were first used on a larger scale in Chicago , where public telephones only accepted those brands. Other US cities followed. In the United States, telephone brands were withdrawn from circulation and melted down in 1944 in order to manufacture cartridge cases, among other things. The oldest known telephone brand dates back to 1885 and was introduced by the telephone company PAN in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Main types of phone brands

Telephone brands can be assigned to three groups, depending on their intended use or area:

  1. The most common brands are sold by telephone companies or their agents for anyone to use public telephones.
  2. Less common brands are made by phone companies for internal use, mostly as test tokens.
  3. Limited-use brands sold by establishments such as hotels and hospitals for the use of their telephones.

distribution

The use of telephone brands spread worldwide, as they had the advantage, especially in countries with inflationary currencies, that the sales price of the brands could be adjusted immediately to the latest fees. The greatest number of different brands of phones were in use in Brazil.

In some countries they were also used as a substitute for change, e.g. B. in Italy, where the Gettoni Telefonici were often used as tips for small bills in restaurants.

literature

  • Groenendijk, Henk A .: A Catalog of Telephone and Telegraph Tokens of the World . Leiden 1989.
  • Targonsky, Paul: A Catalog of Telephone Tokens of the World . Published by the author. Meriden, Conn., 1968.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bertsch, Wolfgang: "The Telephone Tokens of Ecuador" . Journal of the Token and Medal Society , vol. 37, no.4, August 1997, p. 129-131 and 142.
  2. ↑ Batro, Christopher: "Telephone Tokens: The Forerunner of the Telephone Card". Numismatic Review , January 1995
  3. ↑ Helion de Mello e Oliveira: Fichas Telefonicas Brasileiras. Brazilian Telephone Tokens . Campinas 1999.

Web links

Commons : phone brands  - collections of pictures, videos and audio files