26 mm, brass outer pearl circle, face value 20	outer pearl circle, adornment, inscription F T C JIMBOLIA

The city of Jimbolia in Banat became part of Romania in 1924, following an exchange of territories with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Romania received the localities of Beba Veche, Pusta-Kerestur (today Cherestur, in the commune of Beba Veche, Timiş County), Ciorda (today Ciortea, commune of Vrani, Caraş-Severin County), Iam (commune of Berlişte, Caraş-Severin County) and Jimbolia, in exchange for the localities of Pardany (today Međa), Modoş (today Jaša Tomić), Căptălan (today Busenje), Surgan (Şurian, today Šurjan), Crivobara (Markovićevo) and Gaiu Mare (today Veliki Gaj).

The old German name of Jimbolia is Hatzfeld.

A ceramic factory was established in Jimbolia by Stefan Bohn in 1864 [1]. In 1874 it became a mechanized factory, and the business continued to expand in the following decades.

During the interwar period, in Jimbolia were operating "Bohn" Tile Factory S.A., with a capital of 4,000,000 lei, and the First Tile and Brick Factory "Bohn", S.A., with a capital of 16,000,000 lei [2, in the table with the balance sheets of 1123 industrial companies for 1929]. In 1933, the merger of the two above-mentioned companies took place, thus reaching a capital of 20,000,000 lei [3].

On June 11, 1948, the First Brick and Tile Factory "Bohn" S.A. was nationalized [4]. In September 1948, appointments were made to state institutions, published in Monitorul Oficial [Official Gazette], [5]. In the chapter allocated to the Ministry of Industry, under the heading Enterprises of Category III, the new name of the Bohn factory, changed after nationalization, is attested: <<Fabr.de cărămizi şi ţigle "Ceramica", fostă Bohn-Jimbolia, Jimbolia, calea Mărăşeşti, 56: director, Kantor Ion; cond. tehn., ing. Schlosser Eugen, şef contabil, Tiegerman Maur>>. (<< "Ceramica" Brick and Tile Factory, former Bohn-Jimbolia, Jimbolia, Mărăşeşti Road, 56: director, Kantor Ion; technical manager, eng. Schlosser Eugen, chief accountant, Tiegerman Maur>>.

After the 1989 Revolution, the factory went into decline, being closed in 1994 [6].

The FTC Jimbolia tokens are listed in the monograph [6]. They are also presented in a 2009 article dedicated to the tokens and paper coupons issued by Bohn Economat [7] (economat = a shop for employees usually selling products at aquisition price), where they are characterized as "recently appeared" [sic]. The initials FTC, interpreted as Fabrica de Ţigle şi Cărămizi (Tile and Brick Factory), lead us to the idea that these pieces appeared after the nationalization in 1948. In [7] the pieces are described as being used in the company's shop for emplozees and it is mentioned that all these shops operating at the time in Romania were closed "around 1950".

References

1. Dema S., Jimbolia şi tradiţia cărămizii. Prin Jimbolia cu JimboBlog, published on 12th of July 2021, accessed December 2024.

2. * * *, Almanach ARGUS 1931, Tipografia Scrisul Românesc, Craiova-Bucureşti.

3. * * *, Adevĕrul, an 47, nr. 15306, 26 noembrie 1933.

4. * * *, Monitorul Oficial, nr. 133 bis, 11 iunie 1948.

5. * * *, Monitorul Oficial, nr. 205 bis, 4 septembrie 1948.

6. Schäffer E., România. Jetoane, semne valorice şi mărci, Guttenbrun [old German name of Zăbrani village in Arad county], 2012.

7. Schäffer E., Economatul fabricii de ţigle şi cărămizi "Bohn" din Jimbolia, Colecţionarul român, nr. 5, martie 2009, 2012.