50 Rupees 1986, Mauritius
| in Krause book | Number: P37a |
| Years of issue: | 05.11.1986 |
| Edition: | 14 382 577 |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. Indurduth Ramphul, Managing Director: Mr. Ranapartab Tacouri |
| Serie: | 1985 - 1991 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1985 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 156 x 87 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Its closest genetic relative was the also extinct Rodrigues Solitaire, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae of the family of pigeons and doves.
The closest living relative of the Dodo is the Nicobar Pigeon. A white Dodo was once incorrectly thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion.
Subfossil remains show the Dodo was about 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall and may have weighed 10-18 kg. (22-40 lb.) in the wild. The Dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings and written accounts from the XVII century.
Avers:
Lower center, in line, and centered on banknote are Mauritius pottery, as well as a ship from the coat of arms of the state. This kind of folk craft has always been very developed on the island. Most likely, this is why pottery is shown on the banknote.
In lower right corner is the Government House in Port Louis, Mauritius.
The Government House in Port Louis is one of the oldest building we can find still standing graciously and dates back since the French colony. Whilst it wasn’t originally like it looks today, the Government House began construction under the first French governors of the island, namely Nicolas de Maupin (1729–1735) and Mahé de Labourdonnais (1735–1746) and served as the residence of the latter. It served as the venue for the Governor’s official business, as well as the many receptions and functions hosted by the occupant.
Mahé de La Bourdonnais established Port Louis as a naval base and a shipbuilding centre. Under his governorship, numerous buildings were built, a number of which still stand today: part of Government House, the Chateau de Mon Plaisir at Pamplemousses and the Line Barracks. The island was under the administration of the French East India Company which maintained its presence until 1767.
Originally the building consisted of a wooden compartment covered with palm leaves and in time this structure was replaced by a one-storey building during the times of Nicolas de Maupin. Mahé de Labourdonnais later converted this part into a larger surface area at the ground floor in 1738 and the building was then named Hôtel du Gouvernement. With time and under the colonies of both the french and the british the building knew even more changes and additions to take the final form of what we know today. The front view of the Government House lands on the Place D’Armes and the harbour, and can be said to be the heart of the city. (vintagemauritius.org)
The name to the city was given by the Governor De Nyon, it is mainly said the city has been named in honour of the King Louis XV and others say that it is in memory of the Port Louis Brittany.
Also, on banknote can be seen 2 statues, installed in front of Government House - to HM The Queen Victoria and to colonial administrator Sir William Stevenson (behind Queens statue).
More about these 2 monuments:
The monument to Sir William Stevenson - the 9th Governor of Mauritius from 20 September 1857 to 9 January 1863.
Bronze statue, made by Mauritius sculptor Prosper d’Épinay (1836-1914), finished in 1864.
The monument to Sir William Stevenson was installed in 1864.
Sir William Stevenson KCB (1805 - 9 February 1863) was a Jamaican-born British colonial administrator who served as the 9th Governor of Mauritius from 20 September 1857 to 9 January 1863.
He was born to one of the oldest English families on Jamaica. He was the son of William James Stevenson of Kingston. His mother (née James) was descended from Colonel Richard James, who was the first person born of English parents in British Jamaica. Stevenson's grandmother (née Lawrence) was descended from Henry Lawrence, President of Cromwell's Council of State, whose son founded a plantation in Jamaica in the XVII century.
Stevenson was a barrister. He first served as superintendent of British Honduras from 1854–1857 before being appointed Governor of Mauritius in May 1857.
He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1862.
He married a Miss Allwood, and had a son, William Lawrence Stevenson, and a daughter, who married Colonel Sir Francis Marindin. He married secondly Caroline Octavia Biscoe, and their son was Francis Seymour Stevenson, M.P.
He died of dysentery in 1863. 
The monument to HM The Queen Victoria in front of Government House, Mauritius. The inscription on says: "To the memory of beloved and much regretted Queen Victoria Empress of India The Inhabitants of Mauritius".
Many thanks to the following pages for some photos and info:
Centered is the coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Mauritius is stipulated in the "Mauritius Laws 1990 Vol.2 SCHEDULE (Section 2)". The arms were designed by the Mayor of Johannesburg in 1906, Johann Van Der Puf. In the lower right quarter is a key and on the left-hand side is a white star, which are referred to in the Latin motto “Stella Clavisque Maris Indici” meaning “The Star and the Key of the Indian Ocean“.
Blazon:
The armorial ensigns and supporters of Mauritius are described as:
(a) for arms- Quarterly azure and gold.In the first quarter a gold Lymphad.
In the second, 3 palm trees vertical.
In the third, a key in pale the wards downwards gules.
In the Issuant, from the base a pile, and in chief a mullet argent.
(b) for the supporters-On the Dexter side, a dodo per bend sinister embattled gules and argent, and, on the sinister side, a Sambar deer per bend embattled argent and gules, each supporting a sugar cane erect properly.
(c) with the motto "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici” (Star and Key of the Indian Ocean).
Denominations in Western numerals are in the lower left and upper right corners. In the upper left and lower right corners they are in Bhojpuri language.
Bhojpuri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bhojpuri region of North India and Nepal. It is chiefly spoken in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, in the western part of state of Bihar, and the northwestern part of Jharkhand in India. Bhojpuri is also spoken widely in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, and Mauritius. It is one of the national languages of Guyana, Fiji, and Suriname.
The variant of Bhojpuri of the Indo-Surinamese is also referred to as Sarnami Hindustani, Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami and has experienced considerable Creole and Dutch lexical influence. More Indians in Suriname know Bhojpuri, whereas in Guyana and Trinidad the language is largely forgotten. In Mauritius a dialect of Bhojpuri remains in use, and it is locally called Bojpury.
Revers:
Centered are 2 Sambar deers (Cervus timorensis).
It occupies a habitat similar to that of the Chital of India: open dry and mixed deciduous forests, parklands, and savannas. It is a close relative of the larger Sambar deer. It is moderately hunted in eastern Australasia.
Rusa deer have established populations in remote islands, probably brought there by Indonesian fishermen. They adapt well, living as comfortably in the dry Australian bush as they do in their tropical homelands. This trait is shown well in the more frequent encounters on the fringes of Wollongong and Sydney, and in particular in the Royal National Park, indicating steadily growing numbers and strong herds.
On right side is The Mauritius kestrel.
The Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus) is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels. It colonized its island home to evolve into a distinct species probably during the Gelasian (Late Pliocene). It is the most distant living species among the western Indian Ocean kestrels (Groombridge et al. 2002, qv Réunion kestrel).
It can reach a size between 26 and 30.5 cm. The weight is up to 250 grams. The males are slightly smaller than the females. Wingspan is approximately 45 cm and wings are rounded, unlike those of other falcons. The lifespan is 15 years in captivity. The Mauritius kestrel hunts by means of short, swift flights through forests. It is carnivorous, eating geckos, dragonflies, cicadas, cockroaches, crickets, and small birds.
On left side is Trochetia boutoniana. It is also known by its native Creole name Boucle d'Oreille is a shrub from the Trochetia genus endemic to Mauritius. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics.
It can reach a height up to 3 m. The leaves are oval shaped and due to its xerophyte adaptations it is leathery on the underparts. Also stipules are present. The petals are between 5 and 6 cm and they grow asymmetrically. They are bell-shaped and the coloring is dark red with a white background. The capsule is globular and contains up to 10 black seeds. The flowering time is from June to October.
This plant is relatively rare because of its weak regeneration and due to introduced monkeys which feed on the blossom buds. The only occurrences are on the slopes of Le Morne Brabant, Mauritius. Thanks to the efforts of botanist Joseph Gueho seeds were successfully germinated and grown in cultivation for the first time in 1973.
Trochetia boutoniana is the national flower of Mauritius since 1992 and it is often illustrated on stamps of Mauritius. It was named after French botanist Louis Bouton.
Centered, at the bottom is Aphloia theiformis.
Aphloia is a genus of flowering plants that contains a single species, Aphloia theiformis, the sole species of the monogeneric family Aphloiaceae. It is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees occurring in East Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands and the Seychelles.
The genus Aphloia was described by Bennett in 1840 and included in Flacourtiaceae, where most classifications continued to include it until Armen Takhtajan recognized its misplacement and created the new family Aphloiaceae in Violales to accommodate it. In 2003 the APG II system included Aphloiaceae in the Rosids without specifying an order. Matthews & Endress (2005) and Stevens (2006) include the family in an enlarged order Crossosomatales. The APG III system of 2009 followed suit and includes Aphloiaceae within the Crossosomatales.
On banknote, presumably, is butterfly Hypolimnas dexithea (Madagascar diadem). It is a species of Hypolimnas butterfly endemic to Madagascar. The species was described in 1863 by William Chapman Hewitson from a specimen collected by J. Caldwell from Antananarivo in Madagascar. It later became one of the species targeted by collectors on account of its size and colour.
Behind Sambar deers is the Musa × paradisiaca.
Musa × paradisiaca is the accepted name for the hybrid between Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Most cultivated bananas and plantains are triploid cultivars either of this hybrid or of M. acuminata alone. Linnaeus originally used the name M. paradisiaca only for plantains or cooking bananas, but the modern usage includes hybrid cultivars used both for cooking and as dessert bananas. Linnaeus's name for dessert bananas, Musa sapientum, is thus a synonym of Musa × paradisiaca.
Almost all cultivated plantains and many cultivated bananas are triploid cultivars of M. × paradisiaca. It is believed that Southeast Asian farmers first domesticated M. acuminata. When the cultivated plants spread north-west into areas where M. balbisiana was native, hybrids between the two species occurred and were then developed further into a wide range of cultivars.
Hundreds of cultivars of M. × paradisiaca are known, possessing characteristics that are highly variable, but broadly intermediate between the ancestral species. They are typically 2-9 meters (7-30 ft.) tall when mature. The above-ground part of the plant is a "false stem" or pseudostem, consisting of leaves and their fused bases. Each pseudostem can produce a single flowering stem. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots may develop from the base of the plant. Cultivars of M. × paradisiaca are usually sterile, without seeds or viable pollen.
Denominations in Bhojpuri language are in the lower right and top left corners. In the top right and lower left corners - in Western numerals.
Comments:
Withdrawn from circulation at 01.10.1999.
The image of the Dodo is present on some coins of Mauritius. I have one such coin. It is 200 Rupees 2007, dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of Bank of Mauritius.
If you find my work useful I will be grateful for any help in supporting the site.
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