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20 Dollars Mauritius Commercial Bank
| Issuer | Mauritius Commercial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1839 |
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| Currency | Pound (1820-1877) |
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| Obverse description | Central oval vignette of a busy harbour scene with sailing vessels, small rowing boats, and a quayside building complex in the background, rendered in fine engraving. The bank title MAURITIUS COMMERCIAL BANK arcs across the upper portion in bold letterpress, flanked by the word TWENTY repeated at upper left and upper right within decorative cartouches. The denomination TWENTY DOLLARS / FOUR POUNDS STERLING appears in large script at centre, with manuscript date 1839 and serial number repeated twice, above handwritten signatures of the Director and Cashier. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | TWENTY MAURITIUS COMMERCIAL BANK TWENTY PROMISE TO PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TWENTY DOLLARS FOUR POUNDS STERLING COLONIAL CURRENCY VALUE RECEIVED FOR THE MAURITIUS COMMERCIAL BANKING COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Mauritius Commercial Bank was founded in 1838 — the first commercial bank established in Mauritius — and this note dates from just its second year of operation. Private banknotes of this period from Indian Ocean colonial territories are genuinely rare; most circulated hard and were redeemed or destroyed as British imperial banking institutions gradually consolidated note-issuing authority on the island through the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Surviving 1839 MCB notes are among the earliest private paper money from sub-Saharan African colonial issuers in any major reference collection.