My Dad's Stamp Collection

My dad had a stamp collection. I knew that from when I was little. I used to climb into the huge G-plan wardrobe in their bedroom and leaf through it. I collected stamps myself, but this was a glory in comparison, full of animals and countries that I'd never heard of, moon landings and huge beautiful stamps in their own mini sheets.
I have no idea what role this collection played in dad's life, if collection is even the right word for it. It consists of one album filled with colourful stamps in small sets, lots of animals and flora and fauna, but there are other subjects dotted throughout. It doesn't make much sense and to my adult eyes it looks a bit like an album that someone else has put together to appeal to a lazy collector. I'm probably wrong though. Dad's little brother, Reg, collected butterflies and arranged them in cases - this stamp album is similar.
Alongside this strange album was a big bundle of loose bits and pieces. This to me was always the glory of the collection. Unsorted and unmounted, it seemed to just be the accumulation of someone who could see the beauty and historic value of these stamps, but who never had any interest in doing anything with them. It's clear that as a journalist, dad had access to various sources of stamps and picked them up over the years. The moon landing is much represented: these were the stamps that I fell in love with as a child. But a lot of other stuff found it's way in over the years. The launch of a nuclear powered ship, there's a stamp for that. Independence for the Seychelles, issue a stamp. Postal strike? Fleet St cartoonists design stamps for colleagues who set up their own postal service. Marius collects them.
Then, years ago, he gave the collection to my baby son. A typical act of generosity from him, but also the action of someone who really has no interest whatsoever in the subject any more. Luckily, neither has my son, so I've appropriated the lot for the time being. If he ever takes up stamps, it's his. Until then I no longer have to climb into a cupboard to leaf through this.