I believe that literally by their very nature and design coins are supposed to be held in one's hand. However...

With that being said. I believe that some care should be taken when handling at least high grade coins. I personally have about 15 dozen pairs of cotton gloves but I rarely use them except on high grade coins and the very occasional proof coin. But be very careful when you do use them because they can cause you to drop the coins. They tend to make you lose your grip. This has happened to me quite a few times.

With circulated coins, what's the point? Clean hands should be more than sufficient. Realistically, multiple millions of coins have been around for hundreds or even thousands of years and almost all of those have been handled with bare hands by someone down the line. Even uncirculated and proof coins. After all, You used to be able to walk into the Philadelphia mint and purchase a proof specimen and take it home. Those were the days when coin cabinets were about the only means a person had for storing their collection. Well before any of the modern niceties and necessities that we have now. There were no coin books, climate control, gloves, slabs, 2 X 2's, inert materials or much of anything else. How many of those early coins do you think were handled with bare hands? Even the five 1913 V nickels most likely left the mint in Sam Browns pocket. I really don't believe that he had any 2 X 2's or flips available at the time. By and large, any damage from handling these coins with bare hands would have been done by now. In fact I've seen many many more coins damaged by improper cleaning than I have by improper handling. To illustrate this fact you can compare how many coins have been body bagged by improper cleaning to those bagged by improper handling. Some may have lost a point or two on the grading scale but they are still a viable collectors item. If this is the case then you can always send them to NCS for conservation. Then have them regraded.

Cotton gloves are a relatively new item in the hobby. When I was younger we didn't have cotton--rubber gloves were the thing to use then. It didn't make much sense to me then and it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me now. In the early days up to relatively recent times gloves didn't exist and yes, some damage was done to many coins by poor handling but that was usually done by someone who didn't know any better or didn't care. Now matter how hard you try, those types are here to stay.

In short. Learn how to handle coins properly. Use gloves when necessary. NEVER clean coins! And don't sweat the small stuff. It just ain't worth it.

That's my opinion...Yours may be different and there is no problem with that. I'm not trying to upset or offend anyone, this is just what I believe. I'm Sorry if I did.

Mike

This is what I consider to be the most beautiful coin ever made by the United States. This example is a 1917 Type 1, MS 62 Full Head.