Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Francs - Mines Domaniales de la Sarre type 1920
| Issuer | Mines Domaniales Françaises de la Sarre |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1919-1935) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Left field bears a circular medallion vignette with an allegorical bust of France in profile, wearing a laurel-wreathed helmet, executed in intaglio. The large denomination numeral "5" appears at lower left and right within foliate guilloche borders, with the value in words "CINQ FRANCS" in bold letterpress at centre. A blank oval reserve at upper right was intended for a serial number or stamp, and two signature lines for the Caissier Général and Directeur Général appear below the central inscription. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | MINES DOMANIALES FRANÇAISES DE LA SARRE CINQ FRANCS 5 | 5 LE PRÉSENT BILLET EST DANS LE TERRITOIRE DE LA SARRE ECHANGEABLE PAR LE CAISSIER GÉNÉRAL DES MINES CONTRE UN CHÈQUE D`UN ÉGAL MONTANT SUR LA BANQUE DE FRANCE ; EN FRANCE IL EST ACCEPTE PAR LA BANQUE DE FRANCE AUX GUICHETS DE TOUS SES ÉTABLISSEMENTS EN ÉCHANGE DE SES PROPRES BILLETS ET POUR LE MÊME MONTANT. GEO. DUVAL. FEC. ROMAGNOL SC |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
After the Treaty of Versailles handed France control of the Saar coalfields as reparations, the Mines Domaniales Françaises de la Sarre needed a practical currency for its workforce — workers who were German-speaking but paid by a French state mining authority. These notes were not issued by any bank and had no standing as legal tender beyond the colliery payroll system.
Romagnoli engraved the obverse; Walhain the reverse — two different hands on the same note, which was not unusual for French emergency issues of the period but gives the two faces a subtly mismatched weight.