The first stamps valid only in the Saar Area were issued in 1947. A first set of definitives came out in mid-1947, and included 17 stamps using six designs, including workers of various occupations, Mettlach Abbey, and Marshal Ney. Three of these values were also printed on paper watermarked with a pattern of curving lines. These first stamps were denominated in German currency, but just as before, were replaced in November by French currency denominations. The postal tariffs were adapted to the French system with mail to France at the domestic rate and mail to Allied-occupied Germany at the foreign tariff. The postal service of the Bizone subsumed mail to the Saar Protectorate under the foreign postage only as of 1 October 1948.