Quote:
Originally Posted by emeritus
When I went on holiday in Italy in the late 1970's, I found that telephone tokens (gettone telefonico, normally just called gettone) were treated just like coins in shops, being readily accepted and given out in change. They were not flat but had a stamped ridge corresponding to the coin slot in their public telephones.
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Italy had problems with inflation in the 1970s that led to an undersupply of small denomination coins. As well as phone tokens, sweets & boxes of matches were used by shops in lieu of small change. Some banks were allowed to print paper tokens until enough lower value Lira coins were minted.