Best gloves to use for coins? thermoplastic elastomer Gloves?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Howard Ryan, Nov 22, 2021.

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  1. Howard Ryan

    Howard Ryan Member

    Hi, I was wondering what gloves are best for messing around with coins and putting them into Saflips? Are thermoplastic elastomer gloves good, or do they have PVC in them. Is CPE gloves good. Cotton? Nitrile?
     
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  3. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    Just wash and dry your hands before hand and hold the coins by the rim and theyll be fine
     
  4. Mr. Flute

    Mr. Flute Well-Known Member

    It puts on the lotions.....
     
    YankeeDime, Danomite and J.T. Parker like this.
  5. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    I totally agree . Gloves are too cumbersome for coins in my opinion .
     
  6. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    Goalie's gloves have plenty of of padding to protect the coin, but it takes lots of practice to pick it up!

    More seriously, clean bare hands are probably best. The better you can feel the coin, the less likely you are to drop it.
     
    Mountain Man and green18 like this.
  7. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    Bare hands are safest. The only time I use gloves they are nitrile and for conservation with more irritating chemicals.
     
    green18 likes this.
  8. J.T. Parker

    J.T. Parker Well-Known Member

    I use very lightweight 100% cotton but do not know If they are the 'Best Gloves' to use.
    I've heard no complaints from my coins!
    J.T.
     
  9. Mac McDonald

    Mac McDonald Well-Known Member

    Agree.
     
  10. ldhair

    ldhair Clean Supporter

    Same.
     
  11. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    I use lint-free woven nylon gloves designed for handling optics, jewelry, coins, etc. They are reusable and fit well enough that handling coins is not a problem. One brand is Gloves Legend, available at Amazon and elsewhere. Not expensive.

    When I’m going to work with coins, I spread a thick terrycloth towel on the desk or table. Then slit a new 1-gallon polybag on two adjacent seams and spread it out on the towel. Towel prevents bouncing or rolling of dropped coins … you will drop them occasionally no matter how careful you are. Polybag keeps towel lint off the coins.

    Cal
     
  12. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    The best gloves are no gloves at all ! Gloves have the same problems that bare fingers have, plus a few more problems of their own.

    So, to put it quite simply, this is the best answer there is -

     
  13. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    Doug,

    I disagree. If collectors want to avoid creating coins that look like the first three pics below, they should wear gloves where practical … thin, well-fitting, lint-free gloves. May not be practical in many circumstances … change or roll searching, or dealer handling lots of raw coins for example. Even if you’re careful, it only takes a momentary lapse to implant your nasty ridges on metal. :inpain:

    Of course, if fingerprints don’t bother a collector, why not go whole-hog and have a token made with their fingerprint? :) See the last pic.

    Cal
    1.jpg
    2.jpg
    3.jpg
    4.jpg
     
    charley likes this.
  14. ldhair

    ldhair Clean Supporter

    I don't need gloves and have never had a problem.
     
  15. John Burgess

    John Burgess Well-Known Member

    I wear glove for a proof coin or something MS and clean, but for most coins that have seen circulation, I don't see the point, many hands have touched them already, I also don't use much care either for circulated examples.

    Now I'm deathly afraid of making up a proof coin, through fingerprints, or breath or dropping them, or whatever, no lie. I don't like opening or handling them at all if I can avoid it.

    I dunno, I think the whole glove thing is overrated for most cases though, jsut my opinion. I get it if you are roll hunting, want some protection to avoid torn cuticles and hangnails, want to keep the dirt off your fingers, but for that I think anything will really do, the cheaper the better since it's gonna get filthy along with the table, any mat or cloth used ect. ect. roll searching is dirty work!
     
    Etcherman likes this.
  16. YankeeDime

    YankeeDime non-conformant

    silence-of-the-lambs-hannibal.gif
     
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  17. John Burgess

    John Burgess Well-Known Member

  18. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Well-Known Member

    If searching a whole bunch of coins, as I do with world coins, I wear the nitrile gloves but more to keep my fingers clean than to stop prints on coins. LOL
     
    John Burgess likes this.
  19. 1stSgt22

    1stSgt22 I'm just me! Supporter

    I just Wash and dry my hands as others have said! I did buy some padded tweezers to use if I want to take a picture of the edge of a coin!!
     
    John Burgess likes this.
  20. rmpsrpms

    rmpsrpms Lincoln Maniac

    Every time I have tried gloves it has met with disaster.
     
  21. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    I understand your opinion Cal but there are some things about gloves you're not taking into account. For instance, the coins you pictured, the only way they can get fingerprints on them like that is if one touches the face of the coin. And your thinking is that gloves will prevent that from happening. Well, it will, but if you touch the face of a coin with gloves on, something else will still happen. If you're wearing cloth gloves and you touch the face of the coin it's downright easy to hairline or even lightly scratch the coin. And if you're wearing latex, or nitrile, or some other kind of synthetic gloves you won't leave a fingerprint, but you will leave a smudge on the face of the coin. And that can be just as bad as the fingerprint.

    The key is, to never touch the face of the coin at all, and you do that by only holding the coin by the edges ! If you only touch the edges, you can't put fingerprints on it ! And as long as one washes their hands before handling coins, you won't leave finger oils on the edges either.

    Problem is, if you hold the coin by the edges while you're wearing gloves, you loose a great deal of dexterity and the risk of dropping the coin goes up exponentially. And that can and often does end up being far worse than any fingerprint could ever think about being !

    Now you're welcome to your opinion, but everyone reading this thread needs to understand that professionals, dealers and professional graders at TPGs, and just about all knowledgeable and advanced collectors, they don't ever wear gloves ! And they don't for all the reasons I've outlined above.
     
    Maxfli and ldhair like this.
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