What Are The Appropriate Times To Wear Gloves When Handling Coins?

I use gloves when handling uncirculated coins with lots of mint luster. Mainly want to keep any oils off the surface of the coin. I don't worry about gloves when handling anything circulated although I still try to handle them by the edge.

I always wear gloves with any uncirculated bright copper or silver coins because I don't want to chance something happening. When I open a bag of mint sewn cents I try to make sure that I don't touch any surface (even the edge) just in case I hit something rare. Circulated coins are different. I feel like I should wear gloves to protect my HANDS from some of the gunk that's on them!

I also wear gloves on coins I intend to sell. It's a good selling point to let the buyer know that the coins have been handled safely. I know I could just claim that I wear cotton gloves, but I really do. I hate seeing photos on ebay of a coin being held by someone whose fingers look like they just did a brake job on a 18 wheeler.

I'm testing what can happen when you do make contact with fresh copper coins. I took a couple hundred uncirculated 1960 cents with heavy bag marks from my first mint sewn bag and intentionally rubbed my hands all over the coins several times. I sat them aside and checked to see if they toned or showed finger prints. I even put them in different environmental conditions, cold, hot, damp and so on. It's been 30 YEARS but the last time I looked they still didn't show any sign they had been handled.

very helpful thanks I will practice to handle them by the edges. I keep them in a coin folder no cover to protect them and yes talking on them I was worried about spitting on them lol or sneezing just yesterday I went to my work station where I look at my coins and guess what I had a gulp of coffee it wasnt so hot anymore and coughed sitting all over my workstation desktop laptop two monitors key boards oh and one more cough came after that coughed down and just couldnt drink it anymore so I had to spit it out and finish coughing I couldnt hold it it was a disaster and the stage where I use a felt kind of thing to check coins on was soaked sprayed. Only one good thing came from that none of my coins were out yet PHEW!

I wear gloves on BU and silver coins. When putting coins in albums I also wear gloves. For circulated coins I try to just touch the sides, but if the condition is really nice (F+) I also wear gloves. I've had coins that look great one day and a year later, I see the fingerprint, ugh. Rather be safe than sorry.

I suspect that the reason why TPGraders don't use gloves
is due to the possibility of dermatitis problems that may come with long hours of continuous use.

That would not be a problem for the average collector.

The OP is asking if gloves should be worn when pushing coins into a coin folder. I would say yes or use a clean cloth. Even if the coin is circulated, a fingerprint can potentially still be left. Personally I handle the coins by the edge and place them on the holes that they need to go into for my album. Then I use a glove for the final push into the hole.

I've been hunting a of BU OBW 1961-D LMCs I got for 5x face, I've been using gloves so far. I've pulled 1 MS67 quality, and one that might make 67+, but that depends on whether a mark is a strike through or a hit.