It's supposed to look like an old coin but I think it's a telephone token. I don't know anything about French telephone tokens though.
I found this on a french site. Thanks google translate: The restaurant was around 1900 that advertising token , still exists! It is clearly renowned and boasts an impressive website http://www.ecudefrance.com where we noticed that the phone number quoted on the chip , 3 , is the same as it is today ' hui +33 (0 ) 1.45.76.00.03 . The number has not changed , prefixes only came to add to as and network development.
Certainly there are collectors of Jeton, and grading companies certify them as well. Some tone beautifully as well. There are Jetons for other countries as well.
...and yours is a beauty. Professional conservation will bring out its natural surface and add $$$ to its value (eye appeal). To bad the additional value would not cover the conservation at NCS.
Jetons date back to about the 11th century. Just as the abacus was used by oriental businessmen to tally customer purchases, the original intent for the jeton was to allow businessmen to tally customer purchases in Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean region. The use of the jeton gradually spread to much of Europe, and eventually became a scoring piece for various table games. Jetons are known to be smaller than 38mm. The book, Jetons, Medalets and Tokens - The Low Countries and France - Volume Two by Michael Mitchiner contains 800+ pages with engraved images covering the 15th through 19th centuries. Chris
