Arch of Philaeni

Many European countries have arches: Arco di Costantino in Rome, Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, and many others.

As part of the expansion of the Italian kingdom into north Africa, the local governor of the then new colony of Libya, Italo Balbo had the Arco dei Fileni constructed in 1937. It was built in a somewhat symbolic location, on the border of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania.

It was named after the Philaeni brothers of Carthage, who were said to have died where the arch was built. The last four stamps on this page depict the arch. It was demolished in 1973, though, by order of Muammar Gaddafi.

Strada Litoranea Libica

The last set of stamps on this page commemorarte the inauguration of the Strada Litoranea Libica, the Libyan Coastal Highway. It’s a highway along the northern coast of Libya. It was built when Libya was a colony of Italy, when Italo Balbo was governor. It was also called, Litoranea Balbo.

Note

The last three stamps on this album page are from the Libyan Pictoral series contained on the previous three pages. Besides being a little uncertain by my identification of the stamps from this series – some of them may belong in different sets – I’m concerned about the catalog numbers for the third one here. With two of them numbered in the 140s, I’m wondering if there’s more than one issued in the 160s. If so, I’ll need to redesign this page. That’ll be fine since I made a mistake putting the two Libyan Sibyl stamps at the end of the first row – they’re part of a different series. I do have them a little separated on the album page from the other three on that row, so they’re alright for now.

Contains 12 spots: own 10 – 10 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

Tenth Tripoli Trade Expo.

1.1	✓	138	African Woman	50c (may 1936) comm., violet
1.2	✓	139	African Woman	1.25₤ (may 1936) comm., blue

Inauguration of Libyan Coastal Road

2.1	✓	140	Arch of the Philaeni	50c (mar 1937) comm., brownish red
2.2	✓	141	Arch of the Philaeni	1.25₤ (mar 1937) comm., blue
2.3	✓	142	Arch of the Philaeni	50c (apr 1937) comm., brownish red
2.4	✓	143	Arch of the Philaeni	1.25₤ (apr 1937) comm., blue

Libyan Pictorials IIa

3.1		144	Winged Victory	5₤ (feb 1937) definitive, black & dark blue
3.2		145	Winged Victory	10₤ (feb 1937) definitive, olive & dark blue

Libyan Coastal Road - Air Mail

4.1	✓	A30	Roman Amphitheater in Sabratha	50c (mar 1937) air mail, lilac grey
4.2	✓	A31	Roman Amphitheater in Sabratha	1₤ (mar 1937) air mail, black brown
5.1	✓	A32	Roman Amphitheater in Sabratha	50c (apr 1937) air mail, lilac grey
5.2	✓	A33	Roman Amphitheater in Sabratha	1₤ (apr 1937) air mail, black brown

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.