Sealing Flips

I wouldn't allow tape near anything collectable. I've seen anything from gummy to staining, to dry discoloration. "magic" tape seems to be better, but I wouldn't take chances.

3 sides only. Not on the side that folds and no staples at all.Why spend the money on a stapler, staples and a pliers for just that. One dissavantage to using tape over staples. If not the actual size intended for specific coins, oversized flips, the coin has now more room to roam around. Of course this is pending on how a person handles their flips. Some people use only a certain sizes for coins. By that I mean some use Cent/Dime, Quarter/Nickel, Dollar/Half Dollar ones to save on excessive inventory. I know a dealer that uses only Dollar flips for all coins.


As I do with most products I use for almost anything where danger could be possible. CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER. I do for tapes and found 3M clear tapes are non toxic, give off no fumes, do not leak out anything that could contaminate metals, etc. I don't take chances. I just call the companies for information.

Protecting, under protecting, over protecting coins is like what is done with many objects. Cars too are like that. Some people wash, wax, vacuum their cars every week. I knew a lady that did nothing, and I mean nothing, to her car for 4 years. Could hardly see out the windows.
Some people spend almost as much money on coin protection as the coins are worth. Might be the reason some people have coins slabbed that are worth only a few dollars.

I do not believe a staple would make anything air tight because that's not the purpose of a staple, they are just used to make two or more things stay together

Tape might keep air from getting into the 2x2, but so will a plastic box or 20-pocket sheet, without exposure to the chemicals in the adhesive.

Where tape fails is that no matter how well you seal the edges, nothing prevents the coin from moving in the 2x2. If the coin moves from dead center, nothing stop it until it reaches the edge.

Stapling and flattening the staples put pressure on the codbod, and the coin can't move. Even without the pressure factor, the coin can only move to the staple, far closer than the tape on the edge.

Get a flat clinch stapler. They work with so little pressure that you can use fingertips instead of a hard hand squeeze.

Interesting points. I have been using 3M tape for many years now and so far, no change in clarity or color. I too have seen old tapes on items that have turned a horrible brownish but so far not this type.
Now I do like your suggestion of white staples. If it's something that bothers you to see metalic staples in your white flips, you might try covering them with WhiteOut. It is available at any office supply store. HOEVER, I would first contact the manufacturer to see if there is any harmfull fumes emitted during the drying period. WhiteOut, once try is really dry.

just carl, I got another question for you. Do you have any pictures of your flips using the tape? I just want to have some sort of visual guide to go by I guess. Also, do you put your tape around the flip in one uninterrupted piece or do you just tape each of the three sided individually?

I experimented last night after getting home from work with just one continuous piece of tape. I was able to do it, then taking an exacto knife and cutting a slit in the tape at the corners, roughly a millimeter above the flip (so it would seal the corners) and then folding the tape down. It worked rather well. It is additional time in getting it all taken care of but that part I dont mind when it comes to my coins. I was using 3/4" wide tape, so it would work on just about everything except the larger coins and perhaps would require a little more attention to precision on coins like the half dollars, otherwise the tape hangs over a bit into the viewing window for the coin. But I think using 1/2" wide tape would solve that and then using 2-1/2" sized flips with that would solve everything else.

I was looking at CoinEdge holders last night as well and that could be an alternative, but I know nothing about those, so I may just order a couple of them and see what they look like, how big they are and so on.

Also, I have not taken any photos of my coins either. Though it is on the agenda to get done. I've been working on modifying a spreadsheet to keep track of everything and I plan on taking detailed pictures as soon as I can if for nothing else other than insurance purposes. My collection isn't as large as yours by any stretch, but I would like to have some kind of written and visual record of what I have.