100 Francs - Mines Domaniales de la Sarre type 1920

The Mines Domaniales Françaises de la Sarre was a French state-administered authority given control of the Saar coalfields under the Treaty of Versailles — a direct economic transfer from Germany intended as partial reparation for the deliberate flooding and destruction of French mines during the war. This note was issued by that authority, not by any central bank, making it a genuinely unusual instrument: industrial scrip backed by coal revenue rather than sovereign credit.

Paul Baudry designed the series, with engraving by Charles-Jules Robert — both with strong connections to the Banque de France's printing tradition, which explains the note's decidedly official character despite its industrial-authority origin. The Saar itself remained under League of Nations administration until the 1935 plebiscite returned it to Germany.