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Varieties and Errors
In previous articles RALPH ADAM outlined thehistoryofFrench phonecards and described the features that interest collectors. This month heexplains how French collectors categorisedifferent types of card, and describes the mainerrors and varieties
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irstly,let me repeat that the cards I am looking at in this series of articles are exclusivelythe products of France Telecom. These Frenchcards are usually divided into the following categories:
1- Public
These are the cards available from the45,000 official outlets,such as post offices, tobacconists and telephoneshops. In the early days of chip cards there was a clear distinctionbetween definitive andother cards. There havebeenthree well-known seriesof def initives:'pyjamas', 'cordons' (telephone flexes: 'Choisissez Votre Heure') and'600 agences'(phone shops: '600 agences partout en France').All three series have many variations in chip module, printing method,shade or colour, wording on reverse and otherdetails - collecting them is a major specialisation and there is a catalogue devoted to these types. Since 1992,definitiveshavebeen harder to distinguish:theytend to be largeissuespublicisingFrance Telecom's services whichare reprinted with slight variations. Several def initives are usually available atanyone time. The otherpublic cards carry short- termFranceTelecominformation, commercialadvertising or detailsof  specialevents.Some cardsare available in certain geographicalareas onlyand print runsf orpublic cards canvary considerably (from 15,000to f our or f ivemillion). Public cardsare normally available for alimited period after issuef romthe officialbureau, the BNVT.However, theretends to be a particularlyhigh demandfor those public cards andvarieties with low productionruns. Anexample of howgreat is this demand was illustrated by a 120 unit cardissued in 1995, showing the Eif felTower.The cardwasmainly available f roma set of machines outside a post off ice atthe topof the Tower.However,notallthemachines there weredispensingthe special card. Collectors used allmannerof  techniques to get this card: some rang thepost office,verifiedthat the card was available and paid to goto thetop of thetower,onlyto f ind thateither themachines had soldout by thetime they gotthereorelsethey put their moneyinthewrongmachines and receivedthe French equivalentof £12 'greenies'
!
Other collectors hadthe bright idea of giving money to tourists tobuy cards ontheirbehalf .Of  course,the tourists suspected that the cards were valuableand k ept them. Finally,f ollowingrepresentations fromcollectors, anearbypost office was designated to issuetheEiffel Tower cards. This issueshould really havebeen regardedas a private issue asit had,in principle,beenavailable from onlya single sourcewhich was notaccessibleto thepublic.Asa result,the card's price rosetowell above what it should realisticallyhave been.Outof consideration to collectors whohadexperienced such dif f iculties,cataloguepublishers agreed tomakeadispensation and regard unused machine-vended copies of this card as'mint'.
2 -
Private
Since1991 these cardshave been knownas 'private / public'astheyhave beenavailableto allcollectors from theBNVT.Some'private'issues are limited editions of publiccards - with minor variationsof design or wording. Privatecards aremostly promotional,but the rules regarding their issue have changed several times.Almost all private cards issuedbefore1989are rare - and many of  thosethat do still existarein poor condition.Af ew of the earlyprivate cardsweremadeavailabletothe publicatspecificoutlets(eg museums) atspecial prices. Many cardshavebeen issued sealed in sachets('blisters');in thosecases wherecards have been issued unsealed,mint examplesare usually considered as identical to'excellent used'.In January 1991 France Telecomdecided to produce 10,000extra copies of each privatecard for saleby the BNVTsixmonths after theoriginal
 
issue date, at 70F.This figurewas reduced to 5,000 in 1993 and it has recently beencut further to 2,000. Current policyis for private cards to be on sale at the BNVTuntilexhaustionand they have about 1,300 issues available. However,this continued availability makes it hard for dealers andcataloguers to pricethese issuesrealistically: value tends, therefore,to depend on theme orappearance.Once exhaustionis achieved,the prices of 'good'cards can rise dramatically. Individually-numbered,'personalis ed'cards in folders,with signatures or specialoverprints are an exception.However,the'personalisation' does not guarantee value.There must besomething extra: a number below1000,the signature of a TV celebrity or an attractive folder,for instance. Ithelps,too,if the card is not available from the BNVT.
C om m on C ard? A m illion produced - but divided into fifty varieties 
Priorto 1989, 'internal' cards also existed. These were issued solelyfor internalor promotional use by France Telecom.As with certain 'private' cards,they were often special editions of public issues.
3-
Five unit
Introduced in 1993 as a cheapadvertising orpromotionalmedium with arelatively high minimum order (10,000).These cards were slow to catchon both as a promotional product and as a collectors'item. However,there are now well over ahundredvarieties of f ive unit card and they make an attractive collection intheir own right.
In
1994 a new development was theintroductionof public versions of  these cards. A range of 'fun'issues wasproduced for sale at three Parisoutlets,each design having a printrun of 6,000. Twenty-six of these 'specials'were produced in two series. The first consisted of greetingsphonecards sold at 29 Francs each:Zodiac signs, flowers, birthdaygreetings, sports scenesand Paris tourist sites.On the back was space towrite a message and eachcard also came with anenvelope and small insertfor a further message.The second series of 'specials' consisted of personal cards - either inthe form of a blank whichcould be printed up as (anexpensive) visiting card, orelse with a picture and spacefor a printed message (such as achild's name with home and otherphone numbers) on the reverse.These cards retailed at 35 Francs.
The Main Varieties
The range of printing techniques andthe production policy for Frenchcards mean that there is great scopefor the appearance of varieties:variations may be due to a change of manufacturer or to an alteration toone of the many items of informationprinted on the card.I have already mentioned that the early definitivesled toso many varieties that theyhave their own specialist catalogue.Later cards can be sub-divided bymodule type, printing method, type of serial number (specialists distinguishvarieties by length of number,spacing between digits, typeface andcolour: eleven number varieties havebeen noted so far), date of issue,production run,address of Regie T
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