Catalog
1 Pound
| Issuer | Government of Mauritius |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
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| Value | 1 Pound |
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| Obverse description | The colonial arms vignette is positioned at upper centre, flanked by serial numbers at upper left and upper right within ornate cartouches. A large £1 panel appears at upper left and a corresponding '5 Dollars of Mauritius' panel at upper right. The main text block carries the issuing authority legend and promise-to-pay clause across the centre, with the date and place of issue — Office of the Commissioners of Currency, Port Louis — inscribed below. Two manuscript signatures appear at the foot, identified by printed designations for the Auditor Commissioner of Currency and the Treasurer Commissioner of Currency. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | £1 OR 5 DOLLARS OF MAURITIUS THE GOVERNMENT OF MAURITIUS ONE POUND OR 5 DOLLARS OF MAURITIUS OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY ONE POUND PORT LOUIS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF MAURITIUS AUDITOR COMMISSIONER OF CURRENCY TREASURER COMMISSIONER OF CURRENCY |
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| Comments |
The Government of Mauritius began issuing treasury notes in the 1840s under colonial authority, but the 1866 series sits in a particularly unstable period for the island's currency — the debate over whether the rupee or the pound should serve as the primary unit of account had not yet been resolved, and notes denominated in pounds remained in use alongside rupee-denominated pieces for decades before the rupee finally won out officially in 1876.
At over 150 years old, paper survivorship for this issue is genuinely poor. The tropical climate of the Indian Ocean does few favors to nineteenth-century rag paper.