A Blue Penny for One’s Thoughts?

Mauritius is not only famous for an animal it sadly (and the world) no longer has, the Dodo, but for being the first colony of the former British Empire to issue postage stamps. The ‘Penny Black’, the world’s first stamp was issued by the UK in 1840 thanks to the efforts of Sir Rowland Hill. In 1847 the wife of the governor of Mauritius planned a ball and thought that sending out invitations to her guests using a system like the one in the UK would be a good idea. Luckily there was an engraver on the island by name of Joseph Barnard able to print stamps. He employed the design used by Hill and produced a red-orange penny and a blue two penny stamp. These have since become some of the world’s most valuable ones. An international consortium recently successfully bid for two examples (offer of £10,000,000) and they have returned to the island which originated them.

We visited the old Mauritius Post Office on the seafront. However, among the historical exhibits we could only see their copies. The stamps are so fragile that they can only be exposed to light for a couple of days each year.

Perhaps Mauritius’ most interesting museum is the Blue Penny situated on the Caudan waterfront. It’s housed in a lovely old eighteenth century building.

The museum is divided into thematic sections.

These are:

The age of discovery

The island builders

Port Louis

The postal adventure

Engraved memory (but still no original stamp displayed)

Paul et Virginie:

This recounts that emotional tale of love and death by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre first published in 1788 and which continues to haunt the island, indeed the world. It was wonderful to see Prosper Epinay’s original statue of the two tempest-crossed young lovers showing Paul assisting Virginie in crossing a stream in the forest. This sweet sculpture has been recently returned to the island through generous donations

Port Louis waterfront has turned into a smart and lively promenade. We were glad to have gathered so much information about Mauritius from the museums strung along it and were prepared for another visit to the capital.