Bob Swadling is commonly credited with the invention of the Flipper Coin. However, this gimmicked coin was originally developed by Eddy Taytelbaum in collaboration with Phil Postma. In the mid-1950s, Taytelbaum experimented with the idea of using a Folding Coin to represent two coins in the context of a Coins through Table effect (an idea David Roth chanced to reinvent independently some years later). Taytelbaum's starting point was an existing idea of using a Folding Coin to appear as two coins. In 1959, he showed his Coins through Table idea to Phil Postma. Postma suggested putting the Folding Coin into a shell. Taytelbaum did not have a lathe to turn the needed shell, but Postma did. After making a prototype, Taytelbaum and Postma determined the best place for an off-center cut in the Folding Coin to create a good illusion of two coins. Postma proceeded to make a small number of the gimmicked coins and sold them to magicians. One of Postma's coins was purchased by Bob Swadling at a British convention in the mid-1960s. Swadling asked permission to make one for himself, and proceeded to refine the manufacture (Postma's coins were rather roughly made) and then to sell them. Swadling added a magnetic feature to keep the flipper-part of the coin locked in the shell. (This information is drawn from an unpublished interview with Eddy Taytelbaum by Dan LeFay.)