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1 Franc - Mines Domaniales de la Sarre type 1920
| Issuer | Mines Domaniales de la Sarre |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 94 × 62 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red on white paper, the obverse bears a central oval medallion at right containing a three-quarter-left bust of Minerva helmeted, framed by a guilloche border. To the left, a rectangular guilloche vignette carries the large denomination text UN FRANC. The headings MINES DOMANIALES DE LA SARRE and ETAT FRANÇAIS appear above, with facsimile signatures of Le Directeur Général and Le Caissier Général below, flanking the serial number and numeral 1. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | MINES DOMANIALES DE LA SARRE | RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE | LIBERTÉ · ÉGALITÉ · FRATERNITÉ | 1 FRANC | 1919 | 1 | FRANC | 1 | CES BILLETS DONT LA CONTREVALEUR EST DEPOSÉE AU TRÉSOR FRANÇAIS, SONT REMBOURSABLES PAR LE CAISSIER GÉNÉRAL DES MINES DOMANIALES DE LA SARRE. LEUR REMBOURSEMENT DEVRA ÊTRE DEMANDÉ AVANT LE 1er JANVIER 1930 |
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| Comments |
The Mines Domaniales de la Sarre were the French state-operated coal mines of the Saar territory, awarded to France under the Treaty of Versailles as partial reparation for the deliberate flooding and destruction of French mines by retreating German forces. The territory itself came under League of Nations administration from 1920, but the mines were outright French property — an important legal distinction that explains why this scrip carries the authority of a French state enterprise rather than any banking institution.
These fractional notes were issued to facilitate wage payments and small transactions within a region whose monetary status was genuinely ambiguous in 1920, caught between the departing German mark system and incoming French franc circulation.