You Don`t Have To Go Dialing For Dollars They`re In The Cards

April 02, 1995|By Phillis Zauner. Special to the Tribune.

As anyone who has been in Europe knows, the way to make call from a public phone is to buy a card from the post office or at cafes and newsstands for the equivalent of $5 or $10, insert the card in a slot of the phone and dial. Time used is recorded by the card, and when the time is used up, the card is useless.

Or so it seemed. After a while collectors began cruising phone booths, picking yp the colorful cards. In time, this became a new sort of collector`s mania.

When the fist world catalog was published in 1988, there were 60 countries using phone cards. Now there are some 216 telephone companies issuing cards in 153 countries. Collecting fever started flaring in 1983 in Japan, and high prices-up to $1,000 for rare cards-were being paid by 1986. There are now 2.5 million collectors worldwide.

Suddely, the United States is picking up on telecard collecting, with cards being issued by phone companies-both regional and national-and by hundreds of private companies trying to catch the attention of those afflicted with telecard fever.

Ryder Trucks turned the spotlight on the hobby when it decided to give a $1 phone card to anyone renting a truck (after all, when you`re between home?)and made that a feature of a national advertising program. Payless Drugs started selling them, and now they're being issued by hundreds of companies and fundraising organizations.

The cards can be beautiful. The artists who make the designs are producing colorful cards with illustrations running the gamut from Marilyn Monroe to Superman to Sitting Bull.

To give some indication of the possible lure these cards have for collectors, in late 1992, NYNEX, a New York telephone company, issued a $1 phone card with a picture of the Manhattan skyline for the express purpose of giving it to delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Tucked into a bag of other freebies, it went unnoticed by many delegates, who simply threw the card away.

What a mistake. Today, collectors are scampering for the cards, one of which sold recently for $1,700.

The origin of how a particular category of items becomes a "collectible" is unclear at times. But the intensity of the collectors market is accelerating, thanks particularly to companies based in the U.S. because they represent a new field for collectors in other countries of the world.

Says Gary Felton, an international telecommunications consultant, "What we are seeing now is a major demand for American phone cards internationally."

"As our card production and collector elements have exploded, we've turned out some wonderful cards, and the world has responded with open arms and a strong demand for our product."

So far, U.S. cards have not relied on a phone slot to place calls, as in European and Asian phones; American phones are not built that way. Instead, users dial an 800 number, feed in a PIN code, then dial.

International collectors at first were skeptical of such a difference since the cards do not directly interact with telephones but go through a central operations instead. But acceptance is growing rapidly as the new kid on the block shows it can stand up against anything produced elsewhere.

Hot series

Among the most beautiful of the cards in the United States is an outstanding Endangered Species series issued by Advantage Communications. One of the most popular cards is of the macaw, a South American bird. Kevin Pirolo, Advantage president, says the entire series has been selling out quickly.

The Charleston, S.C., Visitors Bureau has issued a Historic Houses series of four cards each from Beaufort and Charleston. There are only 200 cards issued of each scene, which should ensure a profitable future.

In Denver, Gregory Perillo, considered one of the foremost Native American artists and historical authorities in the country, produced a series of six sets of three cards that sold out almost immediately.

In early 1994, America's first Phone Phair was held in San Francisco, and thousands of dealers, card producers and collectors converged for a three-day look at just what phone cards are all about. An auction was held on the third day, and among the items that sold well was a rare Eagle card produced by AmeriVox, one of 1,500 made, that went for $1,100.

Another series of cards that is getting a good deal of attention is the "lost photos" of Marilyn Monroe, reproductions of negatives that had been secretly buried in the Los Angeles back yard of art photographer Andre de Dienes. The first issue of Marilyn Collector Phone Cards also contains images by photographer Laszlo Willinger, Monroe's personal friend.

No coins, no bills

Although this collector hobby has only surfaced in the United States during the last two years, it has already attracted a pair of savvy young men in Orlando, who have opened three phone card stores called Keep the Change! in that area. Their motto is "No coins. No phone bills. No hassles. No kidding."