Mauritius, 1847 (Post Office one penny)
A young queen’s head in profile on an orange-red stamp, heavily barred.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
POST OFFICE up the left side of a Queen Victoria penny: the famous Mauritius “Post Office”. MAURITIUS on the right is under the bars.
- 1POST OFFICE
- 2MAURITIUS, under the bars
- 3ONE PENNY
- Inscription
- POSTAGE · POST OFFICE · ONE PENNY
- Meaning
- POST OFFICE runs up the left side; the name MAURITIUS on the right is hidden by the postmark bars.
- Issued by
- Mauritius (British colony)
- Today
- Mauritius Flag of Mauritius
- Year
- 1847. Issued in September 1847.
- Made by
- Joseph Osmond Barnard (designer and engraver, died 1865)
One fact
Joseph Osmond Barnard engraved the Post Office stamps and they were printed on the island in 1847. Very few survive: this used one penny is recorded as one of only thirteen.
Source and public-domain rule
Creators died more than 70 years ago. Designed and engraved by Joseph Osmond Barnard, who died in 1865. The scan reproduces a 1977 auction catalogue photograph of the stamp. Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death. Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1956; any contributor who was never named counts as anonymous, whose term is 70 years from publication, and the stamp was published before 1956. Legal sources: Directive 2006/116/EC, Art. 1(1) life + 70 years; Art. 1(3) anonymous works 70 years from publication; Art. 7(1) comparison of terms for works from outside the EU; Art. 8 terms run from 1 January, Switzerland, Norway.
Scan: 1847 PostOffice Orange-red Mohrmann 1977.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 948103167), licence templates {{PD-old-100}}, {{PD-UKGov}}. Downloaded 2026-10-21, sha256 48274682bade…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-22 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a second check of these rights by a person is planned, and a stamp that turns out not to be free to use will be removed. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
