Swapping Friends - Phonecard Museum

CARD COLLECTORS
(not in order of importance) All my friends are important to me !!!!
There are many different types that make up the card collecting association.
Card collectors around the world share something that can be a lot of fun, especially when shared with other like minded collectors.
The phonecard museum has had the support of many collectors, some who have passed along the way, and some who retired to green pastures. We have acquired and absorbed the collections of many of these fine people, and also enjoyed lively competition and cooperation with many others.
Let us introduce some of these to you. Over time we hope you can meet them all in these pages.
Along the way, we have also met some wonderful people who have developed the technologies that led to phonecard collecting, and also other types of card collecting. We want to introduce you to these benefactors who have contributed in some significant way to the technologies and this museum collection.

Alain Knecht

Alain and I have had an incredible ride on the phonecard rollercoaster. Our swapping has at times been quite intense, and many cards took hours to swap, but sometimes a swap would take 5 minutes to agree, and we are both surprised! I must say that without eachother, both our collections would be MUCH poorer. I hope we can always enjoy such intensity.
Alain, with Silke, and Estelle, and Alicia, are so enjoyable to visit, in a quiet part of France. I am thankful to the phonecard hobby to meet them and have a little time together every year.
Please take the time to visit the website of Alain devoted to Landis & Gyr cards.

Optical cards

Alain is one of our GSM Specialist friends of the Virtual Museum project. Check out some great GSM history in the GSM Section.
World GSM cards

Emmanuel Coris

Emmanuel is a specialist collector of Smart Cards, specifically NON-Phonecard applications. He has collected for many years in a very methodical manner. Not enough to just collect the cards, he has shown an abiding interest in the history of development and application of Smart card technologies,

Emmanuel has shared a sizable slice of history with the world on his website CARTEAPUCEAN. Please take the time to look at the site, using a google translation if you don't read French.

We hope to integrate many of Emmanuel's cards into this website over time, as our respective collections cover a large percentage of Smart card development,

Thanks for the years of swapping Emmanuel !

Marco Baraglioli
Marco, who is now retired from Phonecard collecting, built a very comprehensive collection or phonecards from all around the world. He was one of the few who made the extraordinary effort of collecting ALL countries, and ALL systems. Many of the rare and historical cards he discovered, or obtained are now in the museum collection. You will see them in future, referenced as: "Ex Baraglioli collection"
We miss the intense trading we did with Marco, and wish him all the best in retirement.

Stuart Christie
Veronica Roche

Stuart is a very gentle fellow, (unless you fire him up). Stuart and I have done some fantastic swaps over the years. We would spread our respective swapping cards of interest to each other, out on the ground, and juggle them around a bit, adding one or taking away, until we were both satisfied with the "GLOBAL SWAP", and then shake hands on it. A fantastic way of trading that we both enjoyed.
Veronica has always been the most sociable of phonecard collectors, always working to help other collectors in a most unselfish way. I want to thank Veronica for her support and cheerful company over the years.
Stuart still collects, though he has sacrificed many great cards for the museum. His knowledge of UK phonecard collecting is superlative. Thanks Matey!

Armando D'ell Utri (RIP)
Armando (the happy collector) enjoyed collecting rare world phonecards, but was a specialist in Italian cards.
Together with his close friend Riccardo, they acquired many of the cards that became part of the Italian Phonecard catalogue.
Later in life Armando decided to retire from phonecard collecting. With the help of our good friend Tiziano, the museum has had the FIRST choice of many unique and extremely rare material for the collection.
Many thanks go to Armando for his great work in the card collecting hobby.

Lucas Bruno

These French guys!!
I call him Bruno, but has name is Lucas Bruno, so how do I know if it is really his first name?
I see Bruno every year I go to France for the SIT collectors fair. We have done some fantastic swapping. Bruno is certainly an expert on many areas of French phonecards, and also Bull smart cards.
A number of the IPSO trial cards I have in the museum are from Bruno's own collection since we acquired that small collection some years ago (thanks Bruno). Bruno has produced some excellent catalogues of French Pyjama, and Bull cards. Great reading.
See you again soon Bruno, and bring along your Green CP8 collection!

Jean-Pierre Camelot
We met Jean-Pierre in Paris some years ago, after contact through the internet.
Jean-Pierre was a director of the Credit Agricole Bank for many years, and was appointed to oversee the IPSO banking and Public Telephone project, held in 3 small cities in France (Blois, Caen, and Lyon) He has advised his government in financial matters at times, and currently enjoys the role of Mayor in his local town.
The IPSO trials were the first in the world to use CHIPCARD technology for EFTPOS, and public telephone call payment. This integrated system was the flagship for the rest of the world, and decades before many other countries followed suit.
We have been pleased to call Jean-Pierre our friend and benefactor, as he has been very helpful with our understanding of the developments he was in charge of. Please see the IPSO cards:
IPSO Trial
And the history article to read:
IPSO History