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Collecting of telephone cards

Within five years the assembly of telephone cards ...

Within five years the assembly of telephone cards are represented at the international exhibition in Bruxelles. In many countries there are clubs of TV-cards, in Prague, for example, they publish the bulletin. The various helpful information - about sales of collections, about an exchange or about search of any especially rare card - is given with the Internet. For search of Internet addresses type phone card collection in any search system. It is possible to find out exhibitions of collections with a portrait of the owner or the prevention of fakes and swindle.

The companies, producing telephone cards, frequently do rates on collectors. For example, the first circulation which is quickly bought up, basically collectors stands out. Then the company prints out cards with the same image, but collectors "hunt" for the first release. Sometimes circulation do intentionally small; so, firm Dzhemplas has let out for the presentation of only 300 cards. In Russia the first telephone card of company GPT has appeared in 1988. By the way, our telephone cards are rather popular abroad, and two Russian companies - Comstar and the St.-Petersburg payphones - indispensable participants of the international exhibitions. After that telephone cards became widely spread at the Russian embassies while processing Russian visas.

Moscow and St.-Petersburg today are considered as the centers of collecting of telephone cards. The newspaper "the World collector ", living in city on Neva, periodically publishes the information on releases of new series. Readers of this newspaper helped it to make a collection which is considered one of the greatest in the country. A significant event for collectors became the release of the catalogue of cards of the company the St.-Petersburg payphones, and also the catalogue " Telephone cards of Russia " in the past year in St.-Petersburg. Owners of the catalogue receive a member card and automatically become members of club of the collectors created on a server of the company Comstar. It allows to get new cards through the Internet and guarantees protection against fakes. The company Comstar - one of the few in Russia which lets out cards, being guided by collectors. Production of the company is always well issued. To the person getting Comstars card to call, pleasantly to hold it in hands. Images on telephone cards vary. In the West advertising of the company Coca-cola and images of heroes of Dysney animated cartoons are most popular. At us, Russian, plots usually appear. For example, the company Comstar has received the premium for series " Russian tsars " and " Russian ballet " two years ago, and also for original release " Behave in hands ".

Release of new telephone cards is often dated for some date. So, almost all the companies have let out the series, devoted to the 850 anniversary of Moscow and the World youthful games of 1998. Advertising on cards, in opinion of experts, operates more effectively, than on pages of newspapers and magazines. The companies approach to advertising differently: the Comstar, in particular, essentially does not advertise tobacco products and spirits (except for beer). Incomes of the companies which produce telephone cards are huge, by the way, in circulations, develop of profit on sale of cards, on advertising and the income of collectors. Sometimes collectors are ready to pay greater money for the unique card. For example, one of the first Russian cards " the Winter landscape ", produced by firm Comstar in 1989 and considered now a curiosity, is estimated on the London auction in 1200 pounds sterling (about 2000 dollars). The cases of swindle connected with telephone cards are known already, for example, atop they skilfully paste old figures and give out for primary release; or when plastic preparations give out for cards of the known companies and sell such fakes full lots.

Now in Russia it is totaled about four hundred collectors of telephone cards, and almost all of them are in St.-Petersburg . But also in Moscow there are known collectors, for example Ilya Hahaev, having about 1200 cards which were produced in Russia. In a collection there are the first cards which appeared in 1989, and the ones produced more recently. I.Hahaev collects cards and studies them on types of microcircuits, on systems of card devices, investigates design. One of cards of a collection among twenty others has visited space. It, as well as the others, is certified by the certificate with the autograph of cosmonauts. The auction price of each such card is about thousand dollars. Therefore, passing by the payphone, get accustomed: suddenly you will find the card thrown out as superfluous which not only will begin a collection, but also it will appear a curiosity.