6 Livres Tournois

The Isles de France et de Bourbon — Mauritius and Réunion under French colonial administration — issued paper currency largely because hard coin simply didn't stay on the islands. Specie drained constantly toward trade with passing ships, forcing local authorities to emit notes as a substitute medium. This 1768 issue predates the Revolutionary period assignats by over two decades and belongs to a much quieter tradition of colonial monetary improvisation under the Ancien Régime.

Livres tournois denominations in colonial French issues of this period were typically authorized by the local governor and intendant jointly, with manuscript signatures and dates completing each note individually. Surviving examples are rare — the Indian Ocean colonies were small, the print runs modest, and paper in tropical climates rarely survives two and a half centuries intact.