Benin

Benin is a country in West Africa. Its capital is Porto-Novo, though the seat of government is in Cotonou. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Kingdom of Dahomey, made up mostly of the Fon people, rose on the Abomey plateau and took over much of the coast. France took the territory in 1894 and made it part of French West Africa, and it gained independence as Dahomey on August 1, 1960.

After independence there were several coups, and on October 26, 1972, Lt. Col. Mathieu Kérékou took power. On November 30, 1975, he renamed the country the People’s Republic of Benin, after the Bight of Benin, since the name Dahomey is tied only to the Fon. Rather than keep the Marxist state going, he gave it up in 1990, and the country became the Republic of Benin on March 1 of that year.

In 1991, Kérékou lost an election to Nicéphore Soglo and became the first president on the African mainland to lose power at the ballot box. Patrice Talon served as president from 2016, a coup attempt against him failed on December 7, 2025, and Romuald Wadagni won the April 12, 2026 election.

Note

Here’s yet another set of stamps depicting the flag and one coin from eacg member state. I don’t like these, but as a collector, I can’t not have them in my collection. It goes against the nature of a collector. I dread the day when I have to include a stamp of Donald Trump.

Contains 8 spots: own 8 – 8 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.

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

Flags & Coins

1.1	✓	484a	Madagascar Flag & 1-Ariary Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
1.2	✓	484b	Rwanda Flag & 50-Franc Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
1.3	✓	484c	Benin Flag & 10-Franc Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
1.4	✓	484d	Iran Flag & 500-Rial Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
2.1	✓	484e	Namibia Flag & 5-Dollar Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	484f	Maldives Flag & 1-Rufiyaa Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
2.3	✓	484g	Albania Flag & 10-Lek Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor
2.4	✓	484h	Turkey Flag & 1-Lira Coin	0.85 (may 2008) comm., multicolor

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.

No Covers Found.