Currency Note: Mauritius

When Three Lines of Text Changed a Banknote

Dad told me about this 1998 episode of notes, some time back.. and it took a while to catch this note, so to speak.

At first glance, these two Mauritius 50 Rupee notes look almost identical. Same portrait of Joseph Maurice Paturau, same denomination, almost the same design.

But look closely at the three languages below “FIFTY RUPEES.”

🔎 The lower note is from the controversial 1998 issue.
The denomination appeared in the order:

English → Hindi → Tamil

The positioning of the Indian languages caused considerable controversy in multicultural Mauritius. The Bank of Mauritius eventually withdrew the entire 1998 series and introduced a corrected series in 1999.

🔎 Now look at my upper note, dated 2009:

English → Tamil → Hindi

A tiny change — but one with a fascinating story behind it.

The 1998 series comprised Rs25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 2,000, and had an extraordinarily short life. The Rs50 was issued on 30 October 1998, and the series ceased to be legal tender on 1 October 1999.

That short circulation also explains why some of the other 1998 denominations — particularly the higher values — are considerably harder and more expensive to find today.

The 1998 note also carries different signatures and the BB prefix, compared with the later BE example shown here.

This is what makes banknote collecting so fascinating.

Two Rs 50 notes. Almost identical.
Yet the order of just two languages turns them into a little piece of Mauritian social history.