Thai telephone tokens

From World of Tokens
Revision as of 16:31, 2 April 2019 by Andyg (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

General introduction

Telephone communication in Thailand started in 1881 with a telephone line laid between Bangkok and Paknam, in Samut Prakan, a short distance south of Bangkok. It was the responsibility of the Telephone Technical Unit of the Post and Telegraph Department. In 1954 (BE 2497), a new organisation was founded: Telecom of Thailand Public Company Limited (ทีโอที) of the the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In 2002, TOT lost its monopoly, becoming a state-owned enterprise. TOT hosts Thailand's mobile network. In 2009, TOT became Thailand’s first 3G mobile phone service provider.

Introduction of the tokens

TOT logo.jpg

In view of the Postal horn, type TTT1 tokens may well have been issued by the Telephone Technical Unit of the Post and Telegraph Department before 1954. The others are marked as issues of Telecom of Thailand. All tokens have smooth edges. They all have a central hole with a diameter of 6.2mm. It is not known what the winged crowned arms logo represents. Thai telephone tokens may have a parts number or a serial and date sequence, with the date being expressed in the Buddhist Era (BE)[1]. The following table shows Thai numerals.

Latin 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Thai

Telecommunication in Thailand in Wikipedia

  1. To convert a date from the Christian era (AD) to BE add 543. To convert a BE date to the AD system, subtract 543.

References

We have made much use of A catalog of telephone and telegraph tokens of the world by H.A. Groenendijk, 2nd edition, 2001, adding our own background research. The book is available from World of Coins

Catalogue

Thai telephone tokens
File:TTT1.jpg
Filename TTT1
Side 1 logo, postal horn
Side 2 Part number
Manufacture Copper-zinc
Size (mm) 17
Weight (grams)
Notes Number known: 38586
Source Groenendijk
TTT2.jpg
Filename TTT2
Side 1 logo, ทศท - TOT
Side 2 โทรศัพท์สาธารณะ - public telephone, part number
Manufacture Copper-zinc
Size (mm) 17
Weight (grams)
Notes Numbers known: 22956, 73990, 82657, 112627, 128393, 141744, 171977
Source Groenendijk
TTT3.jpg
Filename TTT3
Side 1 logo, ทศท - TOT
Side 2 โทรศัพท์สาธารณะ - public telephone, series number and date
Manufacture Copper-zinc
Size (mm) 17
Weight (grams)
Notes series/date sequences known: 1/2503, 2/2503, 1/2504, 1/2506, 1/2507, 2/2507, 1/2508, 1/2509, 1/2510, 1/2511, 1/2512, 1/2513, 1/2514, 1/2515, 1/2516. TTT3 Varieties.
Source Oesho