22 mm BUN PENTRU UNA CONVORBIRE TELEFONICA LOCALA meaning "GOOD FOR ONE LOCAL PHONECALL"	ADMINISTRATIA·POSTELOR·SI·TELECOMUNICATIILOR· postal horn in the middle, phone receiver and lightnings (symbol of the telegraph)
22 mm TELEFOANE, 121 (stamped)	map of Romania in the middle under a telephone receiver
22 mm TELEFOANE	map of Romania in the middle under a telephone receiver
22 mm, 3.6 g map of Romania in the middle under a telephone receiver, circular inscription DIRECŢIA P.T.T.R.A CAPITALEI ŞI REG.BUCUREŞTI ★ meaning P.T.T.R. DIRECTORATE OF THE CAPITAL AND BUCHAREST REGION	P.T.T.R. CONTROL, 11 (stamped), done by successive stampings of "1" digit
22 mm diameter, 3.43 g Obverse: TELEFOANE	Reverse: CONTROL
24 mm diameter, ~5 g Obverse: TELEFOANE, 18 (stamped)	Reverse: CONTROL, 8 (stamped)
24 mm diameter, ~5 g Obverse: TELEFOANE	Reverse: CONTROL
27 mm diameter, ~5.8 g Obverse: TELEFOANE	Reverse: CONTROL
27 mm diameter, ~5.8 g Obverse: TELEFOANE	Reverse: CONTROL

The pictures of the first token on this page are present on Romanian tokens through the kind permission of Mr. Mircea Jar.

The pictures of the second token on this page are present on Romanian tokens through the kind permission of Mr. Florin Cosac.

The pictures of the third token on this page are present on Romanian tokens through the kind permission of Mr. Marian Bolum.

Administraţia Poştelor şi Telecomunicaţiilor (Post and Telecommunications Administration) tokens

Decree No. 201 of the Grand National Assembly of May 14, 1949 referred to the organization and functioning of the Post and Telecommunications Administration P.T.T.

Article 1 of the decree states: "The Post and Telecommunications Administration, briefly called "P. T. T.", is a State enterprise." P.T.T. belonged to the Ministry of Communications, a ministry organized on the basis of decree no. 70 of 24.02.1949.

As a result, the token inscribed with ADMINISTRATIA·POSTELOR·SI·TELECOMUNICATIILOR· (Post and Telecommunications Administration) must have been manufactured after the organization of the new institution.

The resemblance to the SART tokens from the previous period is obvious. One side bears the same inscription, BUN PENTRU UNA CONVORBIRE TELEFONICA LOCALA (GOOD FOR A LOCAL PHONECALL). The other side has similar elements - a circular inscription on the edge, with the name of the issuer, and a logo in the field.

Direcţia P.T.T.R. a Capitalei şi regiunii Bucureşti (P.T.T.R. Directorate of the Capital and Bucharest Region) tokens

The P.T.T.R. Directorate of the Capital and the Bucharest Region, subordinated to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, was abolished in 1968 by Decision of the Council of Ministers no. 422/1968 (regarding the establishment, dissolution and change of name of some economic postal and telecommunications organizations subordinated to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications).

It should be noted here that between 1950 and 1968 Romania was divided into regions instead of counties, by Law no. 5 of September 6, 1950. The abolition of the P.T.T.R. Directorate of the Capital and the Bucharest Region corresponds to the abolition of the regions and the return to the division of the country into counties. As a result, it is clear that these tokens were manufactured after the introduction of the regions.

The Bucharest Region was an administrative-territorial division established in 1950 (at the same time as the abolition of the judeţe = counties) and abolished in 1968 (when the counties were reinstated). In 1950, it included the territory of the municipality of Bucharest and approximately the territories the current counties of Giurgiu and Ilfov.

In 1952, it expanded by incorporating the territories of the current counties of Teleorman, Călăraşi and Ialomiţa, except for the Feteşti "raion", (a term imported from USSR, meaning district), which became part of the Constanţa Region and for the Urziceni raion, which became part of the Ploieşti Region. In 1960, the two aforementioned raions became part of the Bucharest Region.

About the acronym P.T.T.R.

The acronym P.T.T.R. (Post Telegraph Telephone Radio) probably appeared around 1951. Decree no. 197 of May 20, 1955 (of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly of the Romanian People's Republic), which regulates the operation of postal and telecommunications services, uses the acronym P.T.T.R.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly No. 30 of April 6, 1951 for the establishment, reorganization and abolition of some ministries and central bodies, published in the Official Bulletin No. 41 of April 6, 1951. The old Ministry of Communications was abolished. The new ministry had "attributions to manage the construction, administration and exploitation of communication routes and means by: post, telegraph, telephone and radio". The abbreviation P.T.T.R., although not explicitly mentioned, is obvious.

The oldest official use of the abbreviation P.T.T.R. that we found (on the Internet, in documents available in July 2025) is in the text of Decree No. 203 of May 16, 1953 of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly, which mentions "the services of the P.T.T.R." and "the units of the P.T.T.R.".

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is mentioned with this name in the Constitution of the Romanian People's Republic of 1952. The 1952 R.P.R. Constitution was adopted by the Grand National Assembly and entered into force on September 24, 1952, the text being published on September 27, 1952.

About control tokens

Immediately before 1989, public coin-operated telephones worked with 1 leu (24 mm in diameter) and 3 lei (27 mm in diameter) coins. In the past, there were also public telephones that worked with 25 bani coins (22 mm in diameter), but we did not get to use them. The 25 bani tariff for a local telephone call made "from public P. T. T. booths or from public or semi-public telephones" was introduced by Decision no. 285 of March 9, 1952 of the Council of Ministers.

The control tokens on the page correspond in diameter to the 25 bani, 1 leu and 3 lei coins.

There are many variations of these tokens, distinguished by the size of the writing. The pieces above have the inscription TELEFOANE of slightly different sizes.

The phone control tokens were used in the communist era, i.e. before 1989 (also afterwards, but just for a while, until the corresponding coins were eventually substituted) to check the functionality of public phones. They are about of the same diameter and weight as the 1 leu and the 3 lei coins of 1963 and 1966 used in public phones. Around 1992, 1993 all payments with coins were ceased and prepayed phone cards came into existence.

How did we procure the phone tokens? Toward the end of the communist regime long distance calls required a large number of 1 leu and 3 lei coins to last a decent three or five minute conversation. Normally the demand for small coins arose in the summer, when especially sea side tourists needed to call home and subsequently caused public phones to simply jam. It was not a rare sight really to see two individuals (usually necessary) in a phone booth: one speaking and the other feeding the slot in a tireless coin frenzy. When the call was over and the phone hung up, several coins were falling back as redundant and, as the seaside phones often experienced problems and needed to be fixed back by technicians, it was common to find checking tokens in the change. That was not a problem though, the tokens were more than fit to be used the next evening to call home again.