Phone token coin of Hungary

In the beginning, the demand for phones was huge, but it was technically difficult to meet this demand. Payphones handled relatively low traffic. Those entrepreneurs who had telephones signed special contracts with the telephone company, which meant paying double the subscription fee, but in return they were given the opportunity to operate it as a public telephone. Occasional callers could call for a small fee. The companies developed devices that were resistant to weather and vandalism. These devices included a protected bushing and a coin collector. Telephone stations could be indoor (in shops, hotel lobbies) or outdoor (on the street). Outdoor phones were armored, while indoor ones did not need protection because they were kept under surveillance. The Hungarian public telephone coin was created by the sculptor and coin artist Sándor Boldogfai Farkas, and was used by the Post Office on public telephones from 1946 to the 1970s. It derives its origins from a situation where someone dropped money into a telephone dialer and then waited patiently for the call to connect. When the expected moment arrived, a bell-bang sound signaled that the coin had fallen into the socket when it was dropped. This analogy is used in speech when someone understands something only after long thought or experience.