One of the first tokens I got, in a bag of mixed world coins, was a “Gettone Telefonico” token. With no obvious issuing country, value or year marked on the piece, but thick grooves either side, it was quite different to the coins I was used to collecting. In fact, it does have a year on it. The number at the bottom, 7809, denotes 1978, month 09 (September). These and similar tokens were issued in Italy from the 1940s to 1980, although more were issued in the 1970s.

The reverse has two grooves and a telephone depicted between, indicating its purpose. The grooves are used to ensure that this is indeed, a telephone token, and not another similar-sized round piece of metal.

A number of variations are listed on Numista.