| Author |
 Replies: 14 / Views: 9,315 |
|
|
New Member
United States
20 Posts |
OK this may seem odd... I always use cotton gloves to handle my coins (no matter what the quality). I get them cheap from an online supplier. I was watching this video by PCGS. Now if anyone knows how to handle a coin it is them!! But I see both graders handle the coin with bare hands (see the video starting at the 2 minute mark). Now granted they are only handling the sides but their fingers/thumb roll over the edges and they get quit a lot of contact with the rim. There must be oils getting on the rims of those coins! Is this OK -- am I over-protective using cotton gloves (note I only handle by the edges too even with cotton gloves)? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAQv6qmGcisp.s. I know PCGS knows how to handle a coin so please note I post this question questioning myself and they way I do it as possibly odd -- not questioning PCGS or the people in the video :) |
|
|
|
Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
Some people feel that gloves cut down on the important tactile feedback that is necessary when handling coins. That is, gloves make them more clumsy. Previous Discussion |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
I was watching this video by PCGS. Now if anyone knows how to handle a coin it is them! But I see both graders handle the coin with bare hands Not necessarily true. If a person drives a CAB all day long, does that make that person a perfect driver? I've been to a coin store where a salesperson was eating a sandwich with one hand and handing people coins with the other and no gloves. If you owned a laundromat, would that make you an expert on cloths cleaning? Kids of any age can get a job in a gas station but would you let them change your transmission? Remember that PCGS and all the others are just people. Some may well know much, much less than people right here on this forum. Myself, I never touch coins with my hands. I use a pair of pliers. Sometimees I left them with a stick with glue on it.  Yes your fingers has oils and acids on them. On the edges of a not valuable coin, makes little difference. I wouldn't think anyone would touch even the edge of a coin worth thousands of dollars but then, it takes all kinds. |
|
Valued Member
United States
102 Posts |
I just been going thru circulated rolls of cents and quarters and my fingers turn black after a handful of rolls, that kind of makes me want to wear gloves. Especially seeing how dirty of these circulated coins can get, makes you wonder what happened to them. But that's the only reason I'd think about gloves at this point in my coin collecting career.  |
|
Valued Member
United States
254 Posts |
I always wear gloves when putting a coin in an album or folder. A few times early on I didn't and later discovered a huge fingerprint.
|
|
Moderator
Australia
16805 Posts |
I never use gloves. But then, I don't have much in the way of bug-bucks high-grade coins, and the few I do own tend to stay sealed up in the 2x2 or mint packaging they came in.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
I only use gloves when putting a coin into my album because you have to press in the middle of the coin to do that.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
When roll searching, I wear finger cots. And like mtm said, it's more to protect my fingers than it is to protect the coins. After seeing some of those coins, I'm convinced they're going to harm me more than I will them. I'm probably going to dump 40-45 of the cents back into circulation anyway. With nickel rolls, I only keep 1 or 2 out of the 40, so most of those go back as well.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
I feel that if I were to use gloves that they would get dirtier, just from the accumulation of dirt from the glove over time. Washing yours hands is a fresh slate everytime. I wouldn't consider it unless I had extremely high-grade coins, and even then, they should be in the capsule, not in my hand.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
I just been going thru circulated rolls of cents and quarters and my fingers turn black after a handful of rolls, that kind of makes me want to wear gloves. Especially seeing how dirty of these circulated coins can get, makes you wonder what happened to them. But that's the only reason I'd think about gloves at this point in my coin collecting career.
I've thought of that many times in the past. I constantly see people coming out of washrooms without washing their hands. People even walking down a public street picking their nose with their fingers. People pick up coins on the street, find them in a park with a metal detector and lots of other places. Ever notice a construction site with those portapoties. No sink in them for washing your hands you know. So many unsanitary things people do and then reach into their pockets or whatever for a coin. Now you get it handed to you. So what is on that coin you just got? If it's sticky, you might want to wear gloves all the time. Of course the same is true of every washroom door, shopping cart handles and think about what your dog just did with his tongue. My suggestion is to wear gloves all day and night. |
|
Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Quote:
My suggestion is to wear gloves all day and night. Reminds me of that scene in The Naked Gun |
|
Valued Member
United States
102 Posts |
Quote:
Of course the same is true of every washroom door, shopping cart handles and think about what your dog just did with his tongue. I thought I had always heard a dog's tongue was cleaner than most things.. Though it never seems to smell that way... |
|
New Member
 United States
20 Posts |
I still wonder about my original question which really boils down to... will handling coins by the edges without gloves result in me finding discolored, etc. edges in years to come as the oils and acids do their work over time? I would never handle the face of a coin with my bare fingers so why would I do that to the edges -- or is it simply not an issue?
Also if I add oils, acid, etc. from my fingers to the edge then put that coin in an AirTite aren't I now adding to that micro-climate in the capsule?
Edited by drain
09/01/2010 08:44 am
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
Also if I add oils, acid, etc. from my fingers to the edge then put that coin in an AirTite aren't I now adding to that micro-climate in the capsule?
Interesting thought. And yes it is possible for oils to spread over a surface in time. However, such results would only be significent if the amount of oils from your fingers is excessive. Remember we are discussing a really minor amount of oils and acids from a small area of your fingers and a small area of a coin. Such results are so much depending on the amount of oils and acids your body secretes, how much is on your fingers, how much you rotate the coin speading such oils over a larger area, how you store your coins. Most people that don't use gloves just barely touch the coin so the amount of oils and acids is really trivial. And too, some people wash their hands before handling coins. |
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
To me, a coin is an object made for legal tender, to be circulated. I have very little proof NCLT. The few that I do have are not modern. For e.g., I have a 1937 Proof George V1 5 Pound piece. I bought it loose from Spinks in London many years ago, and it is housed in a acrylic screw capsule, so I can handle it like any other coin.
Large gold coins are tactile objects. It one of about 4 or 5 coins that I have that are encapsulated. As such, they won't fit into an album, and so are inconvenient to store. I have a few red uncirculated copper coins, but I don't collect much modern stuff. I would rather appreciate a Russian large copper 5 Kopecs of the the 18th century, with a decent patination. They weigh about 45 grammes. Handling a coin such as that will have very little effect on the patination, and it is also a very tactile coin to hold.
The same applies to ancient Greek Tetradrachms. Ancient copper coins are often treated in oil, after they are dug out of the ground.
I have a Tetradrachm of Athens, struck about 430 BC. Show that to a friend who doesn't know anything at all about coins will immediately appreciate it, and you don't have to worry about greasy fingermarks. If it is dirty, just wash it gently in soap and water.
I would rather a nice Roman Sestertius, and that is a coin that is appreciated on close examination under a glass, with the coin held between the fingers.
All of the above mentioned coins may be worth hundreds of dollars, but I don't have to worry about how they are handled.
|
| |
Replies: 14 / Views: 9,315 |
|
Posted 08/30/2010 5:58 pm
