I want to say few words about my phonecards' best friends, because many scans and information would not be available without their help and advises...
Eric SCHUENEMANN from Melbourne (AUSTRALIA) :
I remember the first time we met in a CARDEX show "Les Pyramides" in Bruxelles. I just enter and started swapping phonecards with an advanced german collector. At the end we spoke about rare cards and the german collector asked me : "Did you meet already an australian guy with a suitcase full of foreign cards ?". I answered : "Not yet" and he said : "He has plenty of cards from Vanuatu, early white cards from Australia and also strange Test-cards...". That's Eric, coming to Europe with 50 kilos phonecards and flying back to Australia with twice more ! The way we challenged each others was very constructive for both of our collections and I will not forget our trades for the highlights cards we swapped after hard and long negociation... The greatest phonecards collection (including all systems as inductiv, magnetic, optical and smartcards) is in Melbourne and it was a hard work because Australia is far from most of the factories where Phonecards were produced. Congratulation Eric ! I also don't forget Eric's large contribution in the draft of the Optical-History article. We all need to understand the phonecards' (his)stories ! Please Eric, keep challenging me with optical-cards !
---------------------------- Eric refreshing in 10°C french waterfall ! ---------------------------
Jean-Marc VILLEMAGNE from Djerba (TUNISIA) :
Jean-Marc is a brother for me and I remember the time we could visit eachother twice a week. We share the same passion for nearly 25 years and swapped probably more than 10.000 cards from all over the world (not only optical). Thank you Jean-Marc for asking me many times to publish my optical collection : it is now time to show the cards and I like to dedicate this website to our friendship. I will not forget to mention that you are not only a great collector for foreign phonecards but also a very well known collector for Postcards and Marcophilie.
---------------------- Putzen, immer putzen ! -----------------------
Armando DELL'UTRI from Torino (ITALY) :
Here I want to introduce one of the greatest collector in Europe, very advanced with Test & Service-cards from Landis & Gyr. I have to say that Armando's contribution in phonecards' collecting is a reference for many collectors. I remember how I enjoyed in the past to show you "never seen before" Landis & Gyr cards. But now this boring game is over and every "never seen before" optical-cards will be shown in this website !
----------------------------- Armando just happy ! ----------------------------------
Stuart CHRISTIE from Edinburgh (SCOTLAND) :
Stuart is also a precursor for optical-cards collecting and we share the same passion for minimalistic plain blue, green, yellow or red early optical-cards. When we meet we enjoy showing new discoveries, mostly ultra-rare blank cards looking uggly for most of the collectors : that's our territory which was a "no-man's land" before this website. But don't ask us where we find those strange ugly cards... because we both have some secret friends ! Also, I will not miss to remember the great contribution of Stuart who wrote the british optical-cards catalogue and knows how difficult is such a project ! In the approriate section, you will find a link to Stuarts' websites : Scotia Phonecards & MV Cards International.
----------------- Stuart in Prag during the fair of Sberatel ! -----------------
Rolf MAUL from Dresden (GERMANY) :
Rolf is a famous & very advanced collector for german Phonecards (all systems) and he also wrote specialized articles about german phonecards (see "Published Articles" section of this website about optical-cards from Frankfurt-am-Main). Rolf also caught the Landis & Gyr fever and is very active in the quest of early Landis & Gyr phonecards from European countries... but don't try to cheat Rolf with wrong information because he is a purist with a large knowledge about early phonecards. Rolf also collects evidences about phonecards and it's a great job for the phonecards' community !
------------------- Cakes & coffee before a swap in Leipzig ! ------------------
Daniel HUBER from Zug (SWITZERLAND) :
Daniel is a famous Landis & Gyr collector from the early 90s. I remember the first time we met in the mid 90s in a phonecards fair in the suburbs of Zürich and that we already swapped nice optical cards. Many years later we met again in Zürich and we swapped again optical cards ! Many thanks for your contribution and consolidation of this website.
----------- It's great to live so close from the former L&G factory of Zug ! ----------
Markus GLEICH from Aachen (GERMANY) :
Markus started collecting optical-cards quite late but the improvement of his collection is rather impressive because he collects every optical-card even common or ultra-rare. I would also like to elect Markus as the most addicted collector of the year ! Many thanks also for your large contribution and help for finding new ranges of control numbers and new types of cards in the exciting world of optical-cards !
___------ ---------__-------------------- "Ich liebe Hotel TAGAWA" -------------------
Mark JACOBS from London (GREAT-BRITAIN) :
The story of Mark is amazing because he started collecting in the late 80s, then sold his collection in the late 90s and started again with the virus a couple of years ago ! Mark could gather quite an impressive collection of Engineers cards within few years and is now, in my opinion, one of the strongest collector in the world for optical Test- and Service-cards ! Thank you also for your large contribution for discovering and providing new exciting cards in the world of optical-cards !
_ ----------------------------------------- BT-Green is beautifull ! -------------
Dennis Van REMMEN from Amsterdam (The NETHERLANDS) :
-------------- Ik hou van de optische kaarten ! -------------
Volker STEMPOR & Paul from Berlin (GERMANY) :
-------------- At the very top of Paris ! -------------
My swiss friends from Zug & Geneva (SWITZERLAND) :
You trusted me for this project and I could never come through without your help !
--------------------- ZUG, gerade aus ! ----------------------
And of course many thanks to my wife who trusted me with phonecards ...
-------------------------- Bloody rare -------------------------
88888
88888
Sincerely yours, Alain Knecht (July 2016)
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