2001 Canada Nickel Matte Finish?

This is likely from the Prestige Proof Set, if it is as you say it is. The coins in them are double struck on mirror-like planchets, and the relief is frosted. I'll try and post a picture of what they look like tomorrow morning.

Here's a side by side with a "normal" nickel:

Here's that picture I promised you. You can see how everything on the field that is raised is frosted. The rest of the coin has a mirror-like finish.



It looks like you were talking about something different -- a coin where everything is "dull", rather than "frosted". I have seen these in circulation also, but I never thought anything about them, assuming that they had gotten dull through exposure to something.

I would suggest that the panchet wasn't polished before striking, perhaps. Nothing else makes any sense -- unless the mint is trying out new alloys they're not telling anyone about. Is it a regular 2001 or a 2001P?

Maybe I should start hanging onto them too; I've seen them, so maybe I should.

I'll raise the issue with a couple of dealers I know at the Charterhouse coin bourse on 8 February -- maybe they know something about it. I doubt that anyone at the Mint would be able to be helpful.

It's funny, I have seen it before, but only a couple times at most and I'm pretty certain I've only seen it on the 5 cent piece. I wish I'd have saved mine too.

Is there a difference between the coins a proof set and a specimen set as far as the quality of the strike and the coin itself is concerned ?

Definitely not from a specimen set or any sort of mint error; I've gone through 50,000 nickels since last August and found the "shiny" or matte finished 2001 quite often. My theory is the RCM was experimenting with plating technologies around that time and this type was probably produced in the millions.

Officially there were 30 million cupro-nickel (not magnetic, .750 copper, .250 nickel) and 137 million nickel-and-copper-plated steel (magnetic, .945 steel, .035 copper, .020 nickel) nickels produced that year. But there are two finishes on the "p" coin, matte and glossy, and I would guess the ratio to be around 30-70 based on the numbers of each I saw in several hundred 2001's.

I am constantly surprised at how the 2001 matte coins hold up; they stay shiny and new-looking much longer than the glossy ones. They are much more attractive after 8 years in circulation than most glossy nickels made after 2001.

After 2001 there were no more matte-type "P" nickels so one could conclude the RCM found it was more cost effective to produce the glossy variety.

I would guess that it might be a first strike from a new set of dies that had been prepared for circulation issues, with some sort of cleaning fluid, possibly. I am not sure what is done to coinage dies, but I have been seeing proof-like coinage with frosted letters, and brilliant designs, and even some 50 cents with frosted letters, date, and motto ribbon, and brilliant or light cameo design, sometimes both light cameo and brilliant on diferent parts of the same design. I am still wondering how it is all done.