SAARLAND

SAARLAND / SAAR - SARRE.

Saar river loop.
Third stamps in a overprinted set of 14, issued on 30.4.1921.
Face value 10 French cents over 30 German pfennig.
Print: 5,773,500 copies.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 72.
- Scott No. 87.
- StampWorld, Saargebiet No. 71.
- Yvert et Tellier, Sarre, No. 71.

The Saarland was created as an administrative unit by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, after the defeat of Germany, to which the territory belonged, in the First World War. The so-called Saargebiet remained under the administration of the League of Nations (de facto, occupied by France) for 15 years, from 1920 to January 1935, when it was reincorporated to Germany after a referendum. The first postal stamps issued by the Saarland had their values in German marks, and in 1921 the monetary unit was replaced by the French franc, as seen on this stamp.

The Saar river begins its course in the French massif of the Vosges, and after entering German territory it empties into the Moselle river through the town of Konz (Rhineland-Palatinate), between the city of Trier and the border of Luxembourg. Its length is 246 km (153 mi), 129 of them in France and on the Franco-German border.