Newbie Questions About Staplers And Stapling.

Hi DCV, welcome to the forum. I really think it is personal preference. I use four staples on my 2x2s. As you say, three can allow the coin to move.

However, I use the self stick lighthouse 2x2s for display in my albums. No staples gives a cleaner look and no damage to the pages when inserting and removing them.

Yes the tab helps to remove them. There are other self stick 2x2s, but the lighthouse ones are superior, in my opinion. They have a sort of "flexible" centre section that doesn't have any sticky stuff on it that rises up over the coin, creating a better fit. Bad explanation I know, but you will see what I mean when you get some. And they always stick first time, every time. Some of the others can come apart, very distressing to see a nice coin stuck to some sticky stuff.

G'day,
the mylar allows a bit of stretch.
When selecting a 2x2, it has to be the correct diameter, but you have to allow for the thickness of the coin as well.
My flat-clinch stapler cost less than $10, new. It uses ordinary staples: it just clinches* them differently.
[*first time in my life that I've used "clinch" as a verb: isn't it amazing what coin-collecting teaches us ?].
Peter in Oz

I switched to Mylar flips and an impulse sealer after damaging a nice coin removing it from the cardboard 2x2 one scratch from a staple can knock hundreds of dollars of a coins value........

Wow! Lots of good advice! Thanks to all who replied. I just purchased a Max Flat Clinch stapler last week and absolutely love it. It uses the mini staples which I also like.

Since my original post, I realized that I tend to gravitate toward putting more coins in individual 2X2s rather than tubes, because I like to look at them. To be honest, most of my collection was inherited over 10 years ago. The coins were stored in boxes for all that time where they sat because I was certain I was going to just sell them all one day and I was dreading the task of inventorying and cataloging them. When I finally forced myself to get started last month, it was actually looking at them that made me realize that I liked them and found myself interested and not wanting to part with most of them.

Thanks again everyone...great food for thought!

I been wondering about what I did, namely, I removed all staples in all my 2x2's and used scotch tape to seal all three edges. Can the rest of the world be wrong?

They dont move at all, and air cant get in. I just put the middle of the tape on the edges and folded both sides down. It took a couple of hours, to do like 30. I was going strong so I then separated and taped up all the mylar flips. They were driving me nuts knowing they were open to the air and always ready to fall out.

I agree with the tape on the edges method. It's way to late for me to do this though. I have thousands of 2x2's and all with staples. The tape method is a little on the slow side since you have to measure out each piece of tape. There should really be little to no movement of a coin if the proper sized 2x2 is used. Just no room for it to move. I've found that different manufacturers of 2x2's have slightly different tolerences in the space for the coin. For example I've got many Nickel sized 2x2's where the Nickel barely fits in the spot for them. Then there are others where they are almost large enough for quarter. May be where I buy them but the Nickel ones are the worst in clearances. I would suspect if you just tape the edges and use the proper sized 2x2 the coin will just have no where to go.
Of course as I said all mine are closed with staples.
As to air getting to the coins, tape would or should be the best. If you staple your 2x2's, try this. After you staple them shut, put them to your mouth and blow into the edge. If air goes through, so will other gasses.