Catalog
12 Livres Tournois
| Issuer | Isles de France et de Bourbon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1780 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Isles de France & de Bourbon. BON pour DOUZE Livres Tournois, valeur reçue en Ordonnance. Vu (Translation: Islands of France and Bourbon. Good for twelve Livres Tournois, value received on order. Seen.) |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted paper reverse. Manuscript ink inscriptions include a handwritten date reading '16 7bre 1785' and a cursive signature; faint ornamental impressions at the lower left and right corners appear to have transferred from the obverse through folding. |
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| Comments |
The Isles de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon (Réunion) operated as a joint colonial currency zone under French administration, and notes like this 12 Livres Tournois were issued to address chronic coin shortages in the Indian Ocean colonies — metallic currency consistently drained away through trade with India and the East Indies. The denomination itself is unusual; 12 livres tournois is not a round figure by colonial standards, suggesting it was calibrated to meet a specific transactional gap in local commerce.
1780 falls squarely within the tenure of the Compagnie des Indes' successor administration, after the Crown had taken direct control of the islands. Surviving examples are exceptionally rare.