24th April 1946 – Koblenz, French Occupation Zone. Registered philatelic cover posted at Koblenz 1 and franked with stamps of the French Occupation Zone General Issue. Of particular interest is the reverse of the cover, where a German inflation-period 40 Mark Workers stamp, Deutsches Reich Mi. 244a, has been affixed bearing the private black overprint “Sammlerverein GERMANIA Coblenz.” The overprint is specifically recorded by INFLA-Berlin on Mi. 244a and was produced for the Sammlerverein Germania of Coblenz, a collectors’ society documented from 1920 and reported to have had more than 380 members, with particular interests in Notgeld and organised exchange packets. Surviving correspondence from the society is known into 1927, although it has not presently been established when the organisation ceased to exist. The Mi. 244a attached to this 1946 cover had no postal validity and appears to have been deliberately retained and affixed for philatelic, commemorative or possibly sealing purposes. Its presence on a Koblenz cover more than twenty years after the stamp and overprint were produced is particularly interesting and may indicate a connection with the earlier Coblenz collecting community. However, there is presently insufficient evidence to establish that the Sammlerverein Germania itself was still operating in 1946, and this possibility should remain open pending further research into the sender and recipient. Ref: 24.04.1946 - 15/92