COLLECTION DESCRIPTION


                         FOR SALE IS A UNIQUE COLLECTION, ALONG WITH A
                             HISTORY, OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE USE OF
                                                 PHONECARDS IN AUSTRALIA.

 

                     THIS IS ARGUABLY THE MOST COMPLETE COLLECTION
                             OF AUSTRALIA’S ANRITSU MAGNETIC CARDS IN
                         EXISTENCE.  ALSO, THE COLLECTION OF CARDS IS
                         SUPPLEMENTED BY A NUMBER OF HISTORICALLY
                                                         RELEVANT ITEMS.

 

                         SUCH A COLLECTION WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO
                 COMPILE NOW OR POSSIBLY EVER AGAIN:  IT IS OFFERED
                     HERE IN ONE HIT.  ALL THE CARDS, INCLUDING 1h AND
                     multi hole ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION.  THERE ARE NO
                                 SCRATCHES, SCUFFS, BENDS OR DEFECTS.

 

It is housed in 9 albums, consisting of 134 Stanley Gibbons
         pages and 27 Vario pages, all acid-free, with black
  interleaves; almost 100 packs/folders; plus a number of
loose packages.  It contains every Anritsu face card issued
     by Telstra/Telecom with the exception of the 289 $50
Vietnam and 909 Y1000 Uluru, along with a large range of
 important relevant extras, many QUITE rare, as listed on
                                       THE FOLLOWING pages.

 

    CARDS, FOLDERS, PACKS, PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL ADDITIONAL TO
                                        THE ANRITSU COLLECTION

 

Early Phonecard advertising material: rare mini folder of Geneva Bear +10c coin; ‘Make this Your last
Handout’ Folder with 20c, 10c coins and $1.50 phonecard

Promotional material: includes 14 (or more) advertising sheets; promotional brochure for Bell
Shakespeare, Endeavour and David Adams cards

14 cards displaying different logos used by Telstra on Anritsu cards

16 cards displaying different reverses used by Telstra on $5 National cards (consistency was not Telstra’s
strength)

The complete set of ‘Specimen Cards’ (7 cards – see website)

The complete set of ‘Police Cars’ Cards (5 cards – not on website: rare but well known)

A large (probably complete) collection of Phonecard Club and Fair promotional ‘cards’ (28 cards)

Pre-Anritsu personal phonecards which are very rare; some are one-off.  Includes 6 personal ‘Telecom
Network Plus’ cards valid to February 1995, 3 different types of Telstra Mobilenet digital cards; 2
personal Telstra Payment cards; 2 different types of Telecom Telecards (13 cards)

The official ‘Olympic Bid’ Program and phonecard from the opening by Bruce Baird and Norman May of
the bid for the Sydney 2000 Olympics

A detailed ‘transition-in-phonecards’ from Anritsu's to Phoneaway cards, with special rare Phoneaway
sets (details below).  Included are the matching Anritsu and Phoneaway Diana and Xmas Roo cards, and
the Grilla Dog set

A detailed ‘transition-in-phonecards’ from Anritsu's to ‘chip’ cards containing the first chip set
(landscapes), the blue ‘replacement’ chip card, the first chip picture set (Shells), the original chip cards
as ‘Smartcards’, the Ian Thorpe ‘swimming along’ card; among others

The complete ‘Everyday Buying Card’ set of 4 cards (pretty rare as a set of four)

A detailed transition to deregulation of the telephone network, including the complete Payphonics
collection, the Atug $100 Folder and card, and selected examples of popular ‘Remote Access’ private
company cards

The complete Phone Australia sets (8 cards) including the rare two versions of the
$50 Pelicans (I have not seen this complete set of 8 elsewhere)

For a bit of fun; a card used to dial a brothel, and a ‘Year of the Rat’ set from beautiful Nauru

 

 

            SPECIAL CONTENTS WITHIN THE ANRITSU CARDS

 

5 of the 6 confirmed 600 cards: prefixes 38, 41 vineyard, 41 $2 generic, 45, 101

The complete set of 28 Business cards: 27 mint, 1 (Steve Dixon) multi from prefixes 1276, 1391

The ‘Banknote’ set in display folder

Set of four Wayville overprints: red and black on $2 and $5 generics

All four ‘Zoo’ sets with mini-sheets of stamps: unopened

All variations of the Tourist Generics, with and without ‘copyright’ and ‘non-refundable’.  Includes $20
Reef prefix 284 both with and without ‘Copyright’

Every printing of the $50 Koala

All 7 Bookmuncher cards: includes the 3 different $5 cards (572 grey; 715 green; no prefix blank reverse)

All 15 Timezone cards (1st printing of 5 with Type 1 reverse; rare 1st printing of 5 with Type 2 reverse; 2nd
printing of 5 – all matched as perfect 1 holers)

The two Skyfire cards: 752 and the very rare 751

Both ‘Waltzing Matilda’ albums with banknotes: blue and red serials

The Special Limited Edition ‘Year of the Ox’ album, including the $88 Phoneaway card

The ‘Portfolio’ Set: ‘Man Made Wonders’

The 1449 ‘Bangalow Derby’ card mint without staple holes, and a rare mint card stapled to the original
Program.

Rare (often little known) batches of otherwise common cards as listed below (e.g. 1554 Dog and Bone)

The complete ‘Grilla Dog’ set in mint plus the complete matching Phoneaways, including the $2 punched
and another in the rare no hole condition.

All ten printings of the ‘Victoria Prisons’, ranging from multi to mint:  including 1096 and 1389 mint; and
1557 (2h) and 1558 (3h).

Year of the Dog, Rat and Ox sets:  all printings plus a mint pack/folder of each

Cleaning card; Test Card; Technicians Card; Hong Kong overprint; both Kiri overprints

The famous 502 test ‘Life Saving’ pair as a matching 1 hole set

All 5 prefixes of the $0 Coke prize card

Various error cards (no barcode, serial number etc) including Ken Done Beach with no barcode, prefix or
serial number (should be 669).

The three known cards (to me) with spelling mistakes

5 examples of cards with serial numbers higher than the official Telstra print number; e.g. prefix 1248
card number 90222 where Telstra lists its print run ending at 54000

3 different printings of the $1.50 1992 Xmas Bird Song card prefix 218 (normal plus two different variety
error printings), plus a folder with card (all mint)

Both $2 Beach Complimentaries (1064 and 1494) mint and overprinted ‘Smith’s Snackvend’ (no other
overprints were collected as they were so easily forged or ‘created’).  1494 overprint has slight scuff.

Both colour variations (mint) of ‘Angie the dog’ card prefix 1481.

Colour variation (very distinct) examples of the $10 Melbourne Citiscape (2), $10 Messerschmitts (2) and
$5 Crabeater seal (4)

Reverse barcode variations within both prefixes 1270 (Xmas Roo) and 1301 (Australia Day 1997); and
across different prefixes and printings of the Crabeater Seal

Puzzle sets displayed both as completed puzzles, as well as loose.

Facsimile cards of the Bell Shakespeare, Endeavour and David Adams sets.

Examples of redeemed cards; e.g. Timezone and Grilla Dog cards with punched redemptions.

The Qantas 75th Anniversary Album, complete with the special cards.

 

                    THE ANRITSU CARDS FOR TELECOM/TELSTRA AUSTRALIA

 

NATIONAL, GENERIC, OLYMPIC GAMES AND ADVERTISING ISSUES

NOTE: All these cards, including those from folders and packs, are displayed ‘loose’ in album
pages so that both sides of the card may be seen.  Many are doubled up, with another copy in
the pack.  ALL CARDS AND MOST FOLDERS CAN BE VIEWED ON THIS WEBSITE

Every pack/folder issued by Telstra complete with mint set (most also with ‘dummy’ multi-hole fillers).

Every ‘Limited Edition’ pack/folder issued by Telstra complete with mint set.

Every face card, and every distinct printing of each card that did not come in a pack (mainly the very
common advertising cards) displayed as loose in perfect 1 hole condition (occasionally in mint).  Some
‘Superleague’ (I hate them) cards are multi-hole: the 11 rarest are mint. 5 are 1h.

All printings of the ‘Telephone Generics from $2 to $50.  All ‘Tourist Generics’ as listed above

 

 

CUSTOM CARDS

NOTE: Again, all these cards, including those from folders and packs, are displayed ‘loose’ in
album pages so that both sides of the card may be seen.  Most are doubled up, with another
copy in the pack.  AGAIN, EVERY ONE CAN BE VIEWED ON THIS WEBSITE.

Every Custom card produced, displayed loose in mint condition.  The 1509 ‘We Are You’ is multi-hole,
the 1394 ‘Ernst and Young Seedling’ is 1 hole, and the $2 1418 Chinese New Year is a maxi: this is
deliberate in order to display the rarest version these cards exist in.

In almost all cases, custom cards are also displayed in their folders.  This is not always the case where
folders were smaller than A4 size and thus difficult to place in albums, but many of these smaller folders
are also included.  Every ‘Coca Cola’ card is displayed loose - not all folders are available.  The 20 $2 Coke
cards are doubled up in their two folders.

 

 

THE ANRITSU CARDS ISSUED BY TELECOM/TELSTRA FOR USE OVERSEAS


                                ALL ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON THIS WEBSITE

 

Tuvalu: the two card set 1336, 1337, mint.

Christmas Island:  Every printing of the original generics and the picture cards:  ten cards in all, 6 mint.

Norfolk Island:  Every printing of every card in every set, in mint condition, including sets with and
without SCC on the reverse, both loose and in folders including the ‘American’ and ‘European’ folders of
the National set.  ‘Year of the Rat’ card is 1 hole.

Rwanda: All generic and picture cards (prefixes 418, 520, 707 - 3 cards).

Cambodia:  All generics, including small and large printing on reverse.

                       Face cards of 0 $50 Tai Eptl (3h); 1 $100 Tai Eptl(2h); $2 Goddess with and without ‘Telstra’
 on reverse; $5 Temple with and without ‘Telstra’ on reverse; $20 Temple with and without ‘OTC’ on
reverse; $50 Temple 185 and 253 varieties; 881 Satellite Dish(1h); 191 $100 Temple; 1495 Indochine
Insurance (mint); 1581 $2 Temple (the last Anritsu card, 1h).

                       PACKS: The two Official Telstra/OTC Folders/Packs containing mint generics and each of the
$2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 face cards in mint (which is why mint was not chased for all loose cards)

 

                                        RARE BATCHES (PREFIXES)

Included are the following rare prefixes of otherwise common face cards.  Note that these were often
not recognized as rare until after they were issued, and thus mint copies were not often collected.  Most
below were collected from circulation:

The Payphone set: 1289, 1254, 1256

The Antarctic Set: 1229, 1228, 1220

258 Wallaby;   318 Outback;   701 Xmas 1994;   702, 739, 748 Bookmunchers (all 1h);   843 Buzz (mint);
912 $5 Payphone Centre;   1093 CDB;   1122 $20 Marine;   1125 Celine Dion (1h);   1126 Indycar;   1116
Candle;   1094 Festival of Adelaide;   1095 Festival of Perth 1996;   1115 Michael Bolton;   1164 $10
Finesse;   1312 Xmas kangaroo (mint);   1129 Melbourne City;   1230 Weightlifter;   935 Bolt 9;   1507
Steve Walters (mint);   1508 Dean Treister (mint);   1166 Invisible Heritage;   1554 Dog and Bone (1h);
1377 Spitfire;   1541 Bentley;   1318 Festival of Perth 1997;   699 Xmas 1994(1h);   1290 Keeps You
Safe(1h);   984 Qantas Longreach (slight scuff); 1498 Nescafe Steps.


                                        PHONEAWAYS INCLUDED

The complete Grilla Dog set ($2 with and without punch-hole)

1st Landscape set of 4: ($10 - $100)

Aboriginal Art set of 6: ($10 -$100):  $100 card quite rare.

Sydney Olympics countdown set of 7

Thomas Cook (example of ‘advertising card’) + two Citiscapes (examples of ‘National card’)


                                                FINAL ODDITY

10 Africa Telecom cards; being as close as any other country came to matching the form and layout of
Australia’s Anritu's.

 

QUESTIONS? 

Email the seller, Kevin Harris at kevinharris20@hotmail.com with any queries you may have.

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE OFFERS FOR INDIVIDUAL CARDS:  THE COLLECTION WILL NOT BE BROKEN UP.

 

 

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