Telecom Eireann (Eircom/Eir) Callcards

"A huge craze among many young (and not so young) people in Ireland during the 1990's was collecting Callcards. These smartcards could be purchased in shops throughout Ireland and could be used to make phonecalls in phoneboxes. Each unit on the card amounted to approximately 20 pence or one minute on the phone. The cards were particularly popular with collectors in both in Ireland and worldwide because of their beautiful illustrations and limited quantities in many cases. The smart card as we know it today was originally designed by French inventor Roland Moreno in 1976. Smartcards are still in commonly used throughout the world today, particularly in ATM cards, credit cards and mobile phone sim cards. The same cannot be said about Callcards however. Due to the growing popularly of mobile phones in the early part of the 21st century, the last Irish Callcard was produced in 2002. This also saw the decline of phoneboxes throughout the Irish landscape as more and more are decommissioned every month. The Callcard shown here of a teddy bear phone was very popular Callcard with collectors. it was given away as a complimentary card with 5 Units (IR£1 or 5 minutes of calltime) to promote Callcards when they officially debuted in 1990. It came with a glossy paper sleeve explaining what Callcards were and some were issued in a blue Telecom Eireann wallet."