got my package that i ordered today. it included a pair of white gloves. made holding the presidential proofs and ASE easy and worry free. question: do i ever clean them? if so, when? granted if there are smudges and stains then they are clearly dirty but could there be hidden, coin damaging dirt that i can't see? and if i do clean them...how? or do i just throw away the dirty pair and buy a new pair...and that could get expensive after awhile.
It's a judgment call... After awhile, they will accumulate the oil from your skin, which will damage the coins. If you handle circulated coins with them, they will turn green (if copper coins) or gray/black (if silver coins.) They will also pick up small particles of dirt, as you noted. If you're only dealing with modern proofs, they should last a long time, and your main enemy will be perspiration and oil from your hands, seeping through to the outside. One solution to this is to wear latex gloves underneath the cotton, but this makes the sense of touch diminish remarkably, and you risk dropping the coins if you are not careful. This is, by the way, a great argument for handling coins over a padded, sterile surface. They're okay being washed, but they won't ever be new again. I would recommend discarding them and buying new ones, especially if you're handling a lot of copper. Have fun!
If you wash the gloves, there will be residue from whatever has been used in the washing machine. I gave up on gloves because coins kept slipping out of my hands.
I buy cheap, super soft cotton gloves from a craft store...they dont cost much more than a few bucks for a small pack of them, I have a small stash and dont go through many at all....though I only use the gloves when handling uncirculated coins...circulated...whats another hand touching the coin going to do, and I dont touch the face but the edges anyway.
If you are handling coins to the extent that the cost of buying new gloves will put food, shelter, retirement income at risk, then you might be handling them to much. Why do you keep touching them?
