Jan Van Rossum hates remote-phonecards, I explain you why !!

THE FIRST PHONECARDS OF THE WORLD :

Long time Belgium was qualified for the first phonecard in the world :

It as officially issed on the 14th February 1977 (Valentine day!!) by 3.500 pieces.
This card is the only card issued with 25 units (D1) and (D2)with 100 units. (5.500 made)

Although D2 was issued many more it is still the difficultiest card to obtain in Belgium.

catalogue value is about 2500 USD used , 3000 USD mint.

Then ITALY was claiming the FIRST phonecard of the world. As known the Italians do not really know WHEN it as issued exactly. They claim the year 1975-1976 (that's easy !!) . Personally I think this was an internal trial and not really PUBLIC. Even the Italian catalogue does not show this card as a PUBLIC card. Cacace catalog 1° card is dated 1977.

Comments by Andrea Lughi "I have been in the SIDA factory where I saw all documentation relative to printing, producing, and supplying to SIP of these phonecards. The same documentation with dates is present in SIP (now Telecom Italia) archives and both relates to May, 1976. The card has been officially recognized as the first in the world by The Guinness Book of Records and I personally know at least two persons who used them in Rome, one of them is one of the technicians that installed the phones in Galoppatoio di Villa Borghese, a public place. Of course it was a trial, but it was a public trial and not an internal experimentation. First experiments (internal trials) started in 1974, I saw SIDA original documents."

trial card Cacace #1000

first public card Cacace #1001

BUT , WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS !!!

This card is issued by AT&T in 1973 !! it is a paper card with slot for a dime-(Form 1432) which is a standard USA coin (still now) .
The reverse shows it was issued by 'INDIANA BELL' although 'SOUTHERN BELL' cards have been reported.

The slot to insert the coin was made to insert a DIME coin. The coin was needed to make the telephone work and to call the telephone operator on a toll-free number. The coin was returned after the call.
This is a CREDIT card and not a DEBIT card as the BELGIUM D1 and the Italy card (although the inscription is erroneously 'Credit card for telephone station' on card #1000).

I have read in the Lin Overholt Catalog (1993) that a similar card was issued in 1972,1970

In between we found older cards like :

1968

and then ..

1967

and better ..

1966

GREAT BREAKING NEWS (dated 17/Oct/2003):

Probably THE OLDEST PHONECARD IN THE WORLD

! ! ! 1 9 6 0 ! ! !
more than 40 years OLD !!

And last but not least ..

1956 !!

more than 50 years OLD !!

Would appreciate a JPG file of any card not listed before 1965.