Stamps Of (The) Saar On Steiner Pages

My Saar collection is as complete as it's likely to get for awhile, so I thought I'd scan it all in so I have a record for insurance purposes. Then I thought I'd follow Rod222's lead in posting it for others' consumption. The entire collection on 38 Steiner pages will follow. Hope you enjoy.

A quick FYI before I get started: Scott (which is what Steiner is based on) lists all of the issues of the Saar from 1920-1959 under the same country name, numbered per their usual numbering scheme. In reality, the stamps of Saar/Saarland were issued by 3 entirely different postal authorities. There was the first French occupation under the League of Nations mandate from 1920-1934, the 2nd French occupation after WWII from 1947-1956 and Deutsche Bundespost Saarland from 1957-9. They are arranged accordingly in my album and for your consumption here.

The first issue of featuring overprinted Germania issues. These are all pretty common except for the 80pf and 1M issues. Expertization by the BPP is highly recommended particularly on the 80pf as there are a multitude of forged overprints.



Here we come to the second issue of 1920 featuring overprinted stamps of Bavaria, and the only 2 blank spaces I have left for Saar. I'll get them someday, but the timing and the opportunity will have to be right, as I'll likely have to reach a bit out of my comfort zone, financially, to get them. Note that a true German specialist who collects by Michel would laugh at the idea that these 2 are all I have left. The German sphere is vast and I collect all of it. Collecting by Steiner/Scott is my way of simplifying it. Expertization of these issues is suggested for all issues and is a must for the more expensive ones. Most of the low values pictured below aren't expertized and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there are forged overprints among them.




More overprinted Germania's!



I always liked this series, the colors seem so garish and the designs so primitive. These are denominated in marks and pfennigs.



Here's the same series, overprinted with denominations in Francs and Centimes.



Another attractive set:



Here is probably the most common set from this era of Saar philately. Some of these will turn up in penny stamp packets from time to time.



The previous issue overprinted for the Plebiscite,the results of which rejoined the Saar to Nazi Germany.




That does it for regular issues of the first French occupation. Next post will be for the semipostals, airmails, and officials of that era.

Now we come to the semipostals of the first French occupation. These are some of my favorite stamps of the Saar and some of my favorite stamps, period.













I love the classic biplane design on this one.



Lastly, the officials.





That does it for the first French occupation. From 1935 through the end of WWII, Saar used the stamps of Nazi Germany. Next up, issues of the 2nd French occupation.

I think you have a typo in the intro. Isn't it Bundespost and not Budespost?

Thanks, Artful - excellent. I have a not-very-impressive selection of these as an adjunct to my French collection. The occasional glance at collections at auctions suggests that prices are reasonably high - is that your experience?

Yes, the Saar is really three separate countries, each telling its own story.

After each of the world wars, France tried to grab the Saar with its coal. Stamp design was part of a propaganda operation. Both times, that failed.

The pictorials after the Great War show what France was really after: the coal. Would any stamp today feature a slag heap, or a factory shamelessly belching smoke?

The European Union started as an attempt to calm France down on this matter -- remember the European Coal and Steel Community?

I can't get excited enough to splurge on the pricier overprints on Bavarian stamps, but those tell yet another story. In the geographic mess that was pre-unification Germany, Bavaria owned a fragment in the Saar area, so Saar included post offices with stocks of Bavarian stamps.

Great work AH
Lovely pages.

You beat me to it, I was about to do SAAR, but my pages were nowhere as complete as yours, so I am glad you did.

Makes for a great collection. Keep up the good work......
A fabulous resource, for those contemplating collecting The SAAR

Saar probably does better against CV than most German areas, but better stamps can still be had for under 50% CV, sometimes well under. I don't play in the NH market, which is most likely quite a bit stronger. Hinged German material sells at a very steep discount vs. NH, particularly from this era. And Saar is one of those German areas where used stamps are frequently worth more than mint (or at least mint hinged), so one needs to be wary of fake postmarks if you seek out used examples.

OK, onto the 2nd French occupation. This is an area where Michel lists very expensive varieties, which I'm actually grateful to Scott for not listing. You can definitely see some similarities as compared to the stamps of France from the same era.

This set looks very familiar to other occupation stamps France issued for Baden, Rheinland-Palatinate and Wurttemberg. All of those are listed under Germany in Scott, under the occupation issues (5N, 6N and 8N). Again, these are denominated in pfennigs and marks:




Same set overprinted with denominations in centimes and francs:




Another nicely designed set:









I really like the large-size issues for Stamp Day. There's really some beauties in there:



These commems are probably the most common stamps of this era, and they can often acquired randomly. Nice set all the same:





Some more beauties:









That's it for regular issues from the 2nd French occupation, next up back of the book.

OK, onto back of the book for the 2nd French occupation. Hopefully these won't disappoint, there are some real beauties in here:





The next two issues are flood relief issues, Scott B64a and CB1a. This is a good example of the problems I have with Scott's numbering system as it separates stamps in the catalog that are part of the same set. In this case I'm glad Steiner put the little souvenir sheet on its own page so I could group it with the rest of the stamps from this set:







The stagecoach stamp issued for Stamp Day is one of my all time favorites, it's definitely in my top 10:



When looking at the scan for this one, my first thought was "I need to replace that Dunant stamp. This kind of exercise can be good for that sort of thing.




Gotta love those engraved designs.I'm almost not looking forward to completing this album as it means I won't be picking it up as much.





Very Frenchy:





The flood relief issue at the bottom of this page belongs back with the other flood relief issues, but of course since it's an airmail semi-postal, it gets a "CB" designation in it's own section of the catalog:





And lastly, the officials:





That is all of the Scott-listed major numbers for the 2nd French occupation of the Saar. See Michel for more varieties. Next up, Deutsche Bundespost Saarland.

OK, onto the last and final section: those issued by Deutsche Bundespost Saarland (earlier typo fixed). As anyone who has collected German stamps of this era can attest, most of these issues are nearly identical to those of Germany, just with "Saarland" added somewhere on the stamp. These issues were necessary because the Saar was actually part of Germany now, but it still operated on a French currency system. Until the Saar could be fully integrated back into Germany economically, it was still necessary to issue stamps denominated in Francs. It's kind of incongruous to see these German designs denominated in French currency and vice versa.

The Heuss stamps are basically identical to German definitives of the era. These don't have a denomination specifically stated, but Francs are implied.





The same designs, but with the denomination explicitly in francs. The Saar also only issued Europa stamps for 2 years, this being one of them.




More German commems with "Saarland" added, and denominated in francs, of course.





More German issues with "Saarland" added. It's a pity they didn't keep designing new stamps rather than just recycling German ones.





And the very last page of my Saar album (Housed by itself in a Vario-F binder, by the way), the semi-postals of Deutsche Bundespost Saarland:





That's it, that's every single major catalog number for the Saar as listed by Scott, minus two. Hope it sparks someone's interest in this "dead country" with such attractive stamps. There are a few other slices of Germany (e.g. Berlin) where I'm complete or nearly complete that I'll get around to posting when the mood strikes.

Those last two will definitely wait awhile, particularly the 2pf, #19. I could probably scratch off a dozen or two decent German States issues (which I also collect) for what those two are likely to run, so it'll have to be a combination of the right deal at the right time. Given that "deals" aren't easy to come by on scarce (and *ahem* genuine) key stamps such as those, it could be awhile, which is OK. That being said, there's something to be said for crossing an entire country (used loosely in this case) off your want list.

The biggest problem that Collectors have with SAAR ,other than fakes and forgeries as they go for higher catalog items . Is that most used copies of the semi-postal are CANCEL-TO-ORDER and are not actual used stamps . I have had two different people take issue with me when I notify them that their "canceled " used stamps were only valued the same as hinge mint .

This is a big reason why I take the "collect whatever is cheapest" approach to used vs. mint in the German sphere. Avoiding faked or forged stamps is enough of a minefield without having to worry about faked postmarks on top of it. I simply choose not to mess around with stamps where significant value is in the actual cancellation itself. I'll only bid based on the lower mint price, if I bid at all, on those used issues that sell for a multiple of mint. The other reason I take this approach is that I'm a cheapskate.

I have a similar philosphy,
however, I rather think of it, as being "financially prudent"

Artful,

Great pages! Thanks for sharing the eye candy!

Dan

Charity Postmark : NeunKirchen (Nine Churches)
This evident just 14 days after the terrible Gasometer explosion killing 68 people.
Possibly to support the relatives and injured