The Telephone Card Craze in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Japan must have been madness. Telephone companies couldn't print the cards fast enough as it was like printing money. Although they held value for use in telephones, they held much more value among collectors. It was almost pure profit at that point for the companies so a wide variety of subjects and of different quality flooded the market. This high-quality set from 1990 commemorates Yokozuna Chiyonofuji's 1000 top-division win and 30th championship. There are three cards in this set with two of them that have a mirror-gold finish and they come in this really amazing 3D foldout holder. This holder folds up and is tucked away in a white paper envelope. Not sure what the cost would have been back in the day, but imagine somewhere between ￥5000-￥10000. Chiyonofuji passed away in 2016, but is absolutely one of the top 5 Yokozuna to ever grace the sport.
Anyone else collect Japanese telephone cards?
Whoa. Those are some fancy phone cards. I think the only Japanese phone card I own is an Ichiro from 1993. I could be wrong though.
ReplyDeleteI think early Ichiro phone cards are pretty sought after. They made phone cards of everything!
DeleteI remember getting into the ones here in the states back in the 90's. And when I returned to the hobby in 2008... I started reacquiring some of them. These days... I'm trying to stay focused though. I'll only grab them if they're really cheap.
DeleteI don’t blame you. I’ve been reluctant to start seriously collecting phone cards since it could get out of hand very quickly!
DeleteCool cards! I arrived in Japan in 1999 and phone cards were still a bit of a fad then, though not as much as they had been a few years earlier. I've never gotten into collecting them and I'm not sure why....
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I got to Japan in 1999 as we’ll phone cards were still popular. Used to carry a few on me until I got my cell phone. It is a rabbit hole once you start collecting them.
DeleteI miss the days of phone cards. They may not have been as prevalent here in the states, but there's still a lot of neat cards floating around out there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there are so many fun ones out there to collect. Have to resist....
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