Express

Starting in 1903, Italy began to offer express mail service. This is an expedited mail delivery service. It costs extra, but your mail is delivered faster. This concept was established by the Universal Postal Union, which is now part of the United Nations. The U.P.U. was established in 1874: Italy joined three months later. As a result of this membership, Italians were able to use express service for sending mail quickly internationally.

Looking at the years these stamps were issued and values on these stamps, as well as the overprinting of the face values, it would seem that Italy took a while to decide on the price for express mail.

Note

Before I set up this album, I didn’t have any express stamps from Libya. It didn’t take long for me to find and buy them. I have only one left. That one has been a bit elusive.

Contains 15 spots: own 14 – 14 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Feb 5, 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

Colonial Express

1.1	✓	E3	Express	30c (jul 1921) special, red & blue
1.2	✓	E4	Express	50c (jul 1921) special, red & brown
2.1	✓	E5	Express	60c (jun 1922) special, pink
2.2	✓	E6	Express	1.60₤ (jun 1922) special, red & light blue
3.1	✓	E7	Express	60c (sep 1923) special, red & brown
3.2	✓	E8	Express	2₤ (sep 1923) special, blue & carmine
3.3	✓	E9	Express	70c (jul 1926) special, red & brown
4.1	✓	E10	Express	2.50₤ (jul 1926) special, blue & carmine
4.2		E11	Express	1.25₤ (apr 1933) special, brown & dark carmine
4.3	✓	E12	Express	1.25₤ (apr 1927) special, red & brown

First Tripoli Trade Expo. - Express Mail

5.1	✓	E14	Dromedarys with Riders	1.25+0.30₤ (feb 1927) special, violet & black
5.2	✓	E15	Dromedarys with Riders	2.50+1₤ (feb 1927) special, black & yellow
5.3	✓	E16	War Memorial in Tripoli	1.25+0.20₤ (jan 1931) special, carmine

Colonial Express

6.1	✓	E13	Express	2.50₤ (apr 1933) special, blue & carmine
6.2	✓	E17	Express	1.25₤ (apr 1936) special, brown & carmine

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.