Mauritius Postal Museum
This little museum, next door to the main post office, houses a collection of Mauritian stamps and assorted philately. In November, 2001, The Mauritius Commercial Bank has opened a museum known as the Blue Penny Museum. This is the first philatelic museum in the country. Items on display include a range of old stamps, telegraph machines, printing plates and other interesting postal paraphernalia.The museum (tel; 208 2851) is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm and also on Saturday from 9 to 11.30 am. Admission is free. There is a collection of stamps and souvenirs for sale.
See also: Blue Penny Museum - West - Port Louis
The Blue Penny Museum is unique in that it is the only museum in the whole world to own and permanently exhibit the famous Mauritius "POST OFFICE" stamps dated 1847. The legend wants that the initial issue of the stamps were printed with the wrong wording and the quirk of these stamps was that they had "Post Office" instead of the more conventional "Post Paid" printed on the side. However, if the museum has been named after the most prestigious of those stamps, make no mistake: it is first and foremost a place of History and Art, and houses an array of other rare heritage treasures.
The ground-floor is entirely devoted to the two lovers, Paul and Virginie. Both characters, drawn from the novel of Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, almost form an integral part of the Mauritian history.
First philatelic museum in the country
The Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were unknown to the philatelic world until 1864 when Mme. Borchard, the wife of a Bordeaux merchant, found copies of the one and two pence stamps in her husband's correspondence. She traded them to another collector. Through a series of sales, the stamps ultimately were acquired by the famous collector Ferrary, and were sold at auction in 1921.
Over the years, the stamps became legendary in the philatelic world and sold for increasing and ultimately astronomical prices. Mauritius "Post Office" stamps and covers have been prize items in collections of famous stamp collectors, including Sir Ernest de Silva, Arthur Hind, Alfred F. Lichtenstein, and Alfred H. Caspary, among other philatelic luminaries. The greatest of all Mauritius collections, that of Hiroyuki Kanai, included unused copies of both the One Penny and Two Pence "Post Office" stamps, the "Bordeaux" cover with both the one penny and two pence stamps which has been called "la pièce de résistance de toute la philatélie" or "the greatest item in all philately", and numerous reconstructed sheets of the subsequent issues. Kanai’s collection was sold by the auctioneer David Feldman in 1993, the Bordeaux cover going for the equivalent of about $4 million.
THE SOUVENIR SHOP
The modern concept of the Blue Penny Museum contributes to its interactive environment. Multimedia and audiovisual facilities highlight the visitor’s journey of discovery, constantly renewing and keeping alive his interest while taking him through an exciting trek in the past. The Blue Penny Museum products are inspired from the Mauritius Commercial Bank's historical and art collection. Articles sold are of high standard, presenting a unique range of souvenirs from Mauritius, specially designed for the museum: postcards, posters, decorative objects and stationary.
Blue Penny Museum
Le Caudan Watefront, Port-Louis
Tel : (230) 210 8176 & 210 9204 ;
Fax : (230) 210 9243
Email: bluepennymuseum@mcb.co.mu and stamps@stampsmauritius.com
Web: http://www.stampsmauritius.com/
