Postage stamps and postal history of the Saar
Encyclopedia
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s and postal history
Postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...
of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
territory of the Saar
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
. As a border region contested between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany, the Saar has a somewhat complicated philatelic history. (Note that although the state is presently known as "Saarland", English-speaking philatelists universally use "Saar".)
League of Nations administration
Originally a German territory of great interest to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Saar was to be administered by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
for a period of 15 years. In the absence of an existing nation to take over mail delivery, the League established its own postal administration.
The first stamps of the Saar were contemporary German stamps overprint
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
ed "Sarre" (the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
name) and with a heavy solid bar striking out the "DEUTSCHES REICH" at the bottom of the stamp. This overprint was applied to 17 denominations, ranging from 2 pfennig
Pfennig
The Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....
to 1 mark
German papiermark
The name Papiermark is applied to the German currency from the 4th August 1914 when the link between the Mark and gold was abandoned, due to the outbreak of World War I...
, and first went on sale 30 January 1920. The stamps of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
were overprinted similarly, and first available on 1 March. On 26 March, more German overprints were issued, this time reading "SAARGEBIET" (the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
name) and not striking out the name of the old Reich.
Surcharge
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
s of 20pf, 5m, and 10m on German stamps came out in early 1921, followed by the Saar's first definitive series. This was a set of 16 local scenes, ranging from a view of the Saar River
Saar River
The Saar is a river in northeastern France and western Germany, and a right tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Vosges mountains on the border of Alsace and Lorraine and flows northwards into the Moselle near Trier. It has two headstreams , that both start near Mont Donon, the highest peak...
near Mettlach
Mettlach
Mettlach is a municipality in the district Merzig-Wadern, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, approx. 7 km northwest of Merzig, and 30 km south of Trier.Villeroy & Boch's headquarters are in Mettlach....
to the Burbach Steelworks at Dillingen
Dillingen, Saarland
Dillingen is a town in the district of Saarlouis, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, approx. 5 km northwest of Saarlouis, and 25 km northwest of Saarbrücken. The Dillinger Hütte steelworks is located here....
. The stamps were somewhat rudely typographed and most were printed in two colors; although bordering on the garish, they are striking nevertheless.
On 1 May 1921, the series was surcharged in centime
Centime
Centime is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries ....
s and franc
Franc
The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
s, and in 1922 it was replaced by a new series of same designs, but redrawn, denominated in the new money, and printed in different colors.
The Madonna of Blieskastel was commemorated by a pair of stamps (45c and 10fr) in 1925, then in 1927 a new definitive series came out, still borrowing designs from the first series, but now in different shapes, and printed in a single color using photogravure
Photogravure
Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking or photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a...
. On 1 November 1934, in preparation for the plebiscite the following year, this series was overprinted "VOLKSABSTIMMUNG / 1935"; the plebiscite in January 1935 having gone in favor of rejoining Germany, Saar came under the German postal system. The issue of a four stamp issue marked the event.
French administration
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Saar was one of the occupied areas to come under the administration of France. A first set of definitives came out in mid-1947, and included 17 stamps using six designs, including worker of various occupations, Mettlach Abbey, and Marshal Ney. Three of these values were also printed on paper
Postage stamp paper
Postage stamp paper is the foundation or substrate of the postage stamp to which the ink for the stamp's design is applied to one side and the adhesive is applied to the other...
watermark
Watermark
A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...
ed with a pattern of curving lines. These first stamps were denominated in German currency, but just as before, were replaced in November by French currency denominations.
The French established a protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
in December 1947, and on 1 April 1948 issued a new series inscribed "SAARPOST", followed by another in 1949 inscribed "SAAR". The French issued a few commemoratives each year through 1956, punctuated by a definitive set showing various buildings, in 1952.
German administration
The return of the Saar to German control was commemorated on 1 January 1957 by a special stamps, then followed shortly thereafter by definitives with the then-standard profile of President Theodor HeussTheodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
, and inscribed both "SAARLAND" and "DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST". The numerals did not indicate a monetary system, but were implicitly francs; later in 1957, the stamps were reissued with a small "F" after the numeral.
Additional commemoratives appeared regularly for several more years while the German monetary system was re-established. The last postage stamp of the Saar was a single 15-franc issue honoring Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
, which went on sale 6 May 1959. Thereafter Saarland used the regular stamps of Germany.
Sources
- Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
- Encyclopaedia of Postal History
- Rossiter, StuartStuart RossiterPercival "Stuart" Bryce Rossiter was a renowned British philatelist and postal historian who wrote extensively about British postal history and postage stamps of British colonies in Africa and was actively involved in numerous philatelic institutions...
& John Flower. The Stamp Atlas. London: Macdonald, 1986. ISBN 0356108627