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Gettone (telephone token)

1970s ・ bronze ・ 20th century ・ Italy (for telephone use)

Gettone (telephone token)(obverse)
Nicholas Gemini / CC BY-SA 3.0(Wikimedia Commons)

A grooved brass token for public telephones. In the 1970s, when inflation drove small coins out of circulation, the gettone passed widely as change—because everyone knew exactly what it was worth: one phone call. Money is whatever everyone believes will be accepted; this little disc proved the definition in daily life.