Catalog
10 Rupees
| Issuer | Government of Mauritius |
|---|---|
| Year | 1877-1904 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The colonial coat of arms is centrally placed at the upper portion of the note, flanked on either side by serial number cartouches and denomination panels reading TEN RUPEES in English and in Tamil and Hindi scripts. Below, a bold letterpress legend reads THE GOVERNMENT OF MAURITIUS, followed by a promise-to-pay clause in cursive script and the denomination TEN RUPEES in large type. Two manuscript signatures appear at the lower left and lower right, attributed to the Auditor General-Commissioner of Currency and the Receiver General-Commissioner of Currency respectively, with the date and OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY, PORT LOUIS inscribed centrally. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, presenting a plain paper surface with no engraved or typeset design elements. Handwritten annotations in Chinese script and Latin characters are visible, added by a former holder and not part of the original printed design. |
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| Comments |
The Government of Mauritius began issuing its own paper currency in 1876 following the Currency Notes Ordinance of that year, which authorized direct government issue rather than relying on private bank notes. These early De La Rue printings for Mauritius carried a payment obligation backed by the colonial treasury rather than a chartered bank — an arrangement shaped partly by the failure of the Mauritius Bank in 1847 and lingering colonial distrust of privately-issued paper.
The nearly thirty-year date span on P#14 reflects a long print run with multiple issue dates hand-inserted, a common De La Rue colonial practice. Surviving examples with legible original dates are considerably more useful to collectors than undated or worn survivors.