1000 Rupees - Elizabeth II

The Government of Mauritius — not the colony's commercial banks — retained direct note-issuing authority well into the postwar period, and this 1000 Rupee note reflects that arrangement. Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden works produced colonial currency for dozens of territories during the 1950s, and their intaglio printing gave the series a quality that outlasted most of the political arrangements it served.

At this denomination, actual hand-to-hand circulation would have been rare. High-value colonial notes of this type typically moved between government offices, large traders, and banks rather than through ordinary commerce.