Catalog
3 Livres Tournois
| Issuer | Isles de France et de Bourbon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1780 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Isles de France & de Bourbon BON pour TROIS LIVRES Tournois valeur recu en Ordonnance. (Translation: Islands of France and Bourbon. Good for three Livres tournois, value received on order.) |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse with handwritten notations in ink, including a number and a date reading '11 May 1785' at the upper portion, accompanied by a cursive manuscript inscription reading 'J.B. Melon' or similar. The lower portion retains faint impressions and staining from folding and circulation, with no printed design elements. |
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| Comments |
The Isles de France et de Bourbon — Mauritius and Réunion under their French colonial names — operated a remarkably isolated monetary system in the late eighteenth century, and local paper instruments like this one were a practical response to the chronic shortage of specie on islands so distant from metropolitan supply chains. The 3 Livres denomination sits in the middle of a small series authorized to ease transactional friction in the colony's plantation economy.
Survivorship is poor. Colonial paper from this period suffered badly in tropical conditions, and administrative upheaval following the Revolutionary Wars further disrupted any systematic preservation.