Benghazi

In 1927, the Italian government organized a trade show to promote goods that were farmed, gathered, hunted, or made in its colonies in north Africa. The Tripoli Trade Fair (Fiera Campionaria di Tripoli) was held each year until 1938, until the twelveth fair. The start of the second world war led to the suspension of the fair. In 1943, bombing destroyed some of the structures built for the fairs.

The stamps on this album page commemorate the twelveth and last time the fair was held during Italian colonial times. The first stamp shows Omar el Mukhtar Avenue or Square in Banghazi, which was one of the streets that Italy built during their rule. The second stamp shows the Industry Pavilion at the fair. The two stamps at the bottom show an image of the Uaddan Hotel in Tripoli, known now as the Al Waddan Hotel. It was designed by an Italian architect and was considered one of the finest hotels in Africa. It’s not managed by the Intercontinental Hotel.

Note

When I was organizing and designing the pages for this album, and the ones for Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, I had to make some decisions as to which stamps to include in each album and page. Since the stamps on this page don’t have Libia printed or even overprinted on them, but do have Tripoli printed on them, I decided to put them in the Tripolitania album. That’s why it says Tripolitania at the top and the page label at the bottom right is TR-24. But I’ve since realized that the reason that Sassone has them included in their Libya section of their catalog is because they were issued for use in all of Libya. So I’ve moved them on my site and database, but haven’t changed the physical page, yet.

Contains 10 spots: own 10 – 10 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 9, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Twelfth Tripoli Trade Expo.

1.1	✓	146	Benghazi Sciara Omar el Muktar Avenue	5c (feb 1938) comm., brownish
1.2	✓	147	Industry Pavilion at Fair	10c (feb 1938) comm., olive brown
1.3	✓	148	Benghazi Sciara Omar el Muktar Avenue	25c (feb 1938) comm., green
2.1	✓	149	Industry Pavilion at Fair	50c (feb 1938) comm., violet
2.2	✓	150	Benghazi Sciara Omar el Muktar Avenue	75c (feb 1938) comm., carmine
2.3	✓	151	Industry Pavilion at Fair	1.25₤ (feb 1938) comm., bluish grey

Twelfth Tripoli Trade Expo. - Air Mail

3.1	✓	A34	Uaddan Hotel in Tripoli	50c (feb 1938) air mail, olive brown
3.2	✓	A35	Uaddan Hotel in Tripoli	1₤ (feb 1938) air mail, blackish blue

First Tripoli Trade Expo. - Express Mail

4.1	✓	A36	Eagle catching a snake	50c (apr 1938) air mail, olive brown
4.2	✓	A37	Eagle catching a snake	1₤ (apr 1938) air mail, purple

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.