I have quite the affinity towards these tokens , maybe because I actually used and played around with these ...who would have known ... they collectible ! (Certified Telkom Electrician :-) )
These Telephone Tokens were issued by the General Post Office.
Used by technicians/engineers to test public call boxes (Phone Booths or as we know it Tickey boxes).
A lot of these tokens would have been painted different colours for each of the different regions within South Africa.
If memory serves me right, light Blue was for the now Gauteng area or the then Transvaal.
Some colours used on these tokens , Blue, Red, Dark Red, Black - If you know more about where the colours were used please contact me.
This website got amazing history for the South African Post Office History ..S A History
The history of postal services in Southern Africa can be traced back over 500 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Post_Office
In 1500, the captain of a Portuguese ship, Petro D'Ataide, placed a letter in a milkwood tree at Mossel Bay. He reported the sinking of three ships in his fleet, including that of Bartolomeu Dias, during a heavy storm over the Atlantic Ocean. Portuguese ships regularly stopped at Mossel Bay to take on fresh water, and three months later, the letter was found and delivered to Portugal. Sailors travelling to or from the Orient past the south coast of Africa, placed letters under postal stones, hoping that they would be found and delivered by other ships.
On 2 March 1792 the acting governor of the Cape, Johan Isaac Rhenius, opened a post office in a room next to the pantry at the Castle in Cape Town. This was the start of what became the South Africa Post Office (SAPO).
The first stamp issued in South Africa was the Cape Triangular stamp, introduced in 1853. The stamp has two values – the four pence blue and the one penny red.
In 1860 the first postboxes were erected in the Cape and several railway lines were completed and used to transport mail. The first mail train was introduced in 1883.
Mail was transported by motor car for the first time in 1911, and SAPO experimented using camels to deliver mail, replacing them with an ox cart service in 1914.
BTW - I am sure if we go back to camels or an Ox cart that the mail today (2019) might actually be delivered 4 times faster, It is unfortunately the case since South Africa's "Independence or end of Apartheid" in 1994 under the South African ANC ruled government that the Postal Service has almost completely come to a halt with letters send from one post office to the town next to it can take as long as 4 months, IF it even arrives. Sad state of affairs. Read Here ...81 Days to deliver and more HERE , a simple search on Google will actually proof above correct
In December 1911, the first air mail delivery took place with a 7.5 min flight from Kenilworth in Cape Town to Muizenberg. The mail was carried in the same model of aircraft as that used two years earlier by Louis Bleriot to cross the England/France channel.
By 1919, there was a regular motor car service, and a regular air-mail service was introduced the same year. The first overseas air-mail service was introduced in 1932, and the Springbok Air Service was introduced between the Union of South Africa and Britain in 1945. The first definitive stamp series of the Republic of South Africa was issued on 31 May 1961 after South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth because of its apartheid policies at the time.
In 1973, postcodes were introduced to facilitate automated mail sorting and standardised letters were introduced later that year. In 1994, South Africa was readmitted to the Universal Postal Union following the end of apartheid. SAPO current operates under a 25-year license granted by the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and in terms of this must provide a universal service to all the citizens of the country.
More on the Tokens:
Some tokens will have a "P" on the back of the token, This P will sometimes be in the middle of the token or in most cases the top of the token. (Anyone knows what the "P" was for ? )
It Should be noted that the newer Tokens are magnetic.
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