Franklin Mint "Special Uncirculated" vs. "Matte" Finish

MasonG

The coin pictured below is only listed in KM with the matte finish. Does it look matte to you?

1984worldcoins

Isn't this the silver version? The copper-nickel is matte.

MasonG

I'm not sure. It wasn't listed as silver, the item specifics said clad. And the seller has a number of other ones of the same date/denomination which do say silver.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124847810280?hash=item1d118266e8:g:fqgAAOSwbU9hEnYZ&nma=true&si=lEI6nr%2Bt7qhamMxxMGGB0HaE2t0%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

1984worldcoins

Here is a picture of the unc set, here the 10 dollars seems matte:

MasonG

Looks like it. I have a $10 coin myself (it's definitely matte), was trying to research pricing. Between Krause and the Franklin Mint, it's hard to know for sure what's out there.

7Jaguars

That would of a certainty NOT be a matte (M) and no PLs (U) were struck in 1974. That would deductively be a proof.
Later struck proofs will lose device contrast and look more PL (U) but are not. The OP coin shows this on the reverse especially.

MasonG

@7Jaguars said:
That would of a certainty NOT be a matte (M) and no PLs (U) were struck in 1974. That would deductively be a proof.

That was my first thought, but the seller doesn't identify it as silver when he did so for other pieces he was selling. There are only matte issues listed for the c/n variety, which prompted my question as I'm not convinced Krause is 100% accurate with respect to the available date/composition/finishes of the Franklin Mint issues in their catalogs.

7Jaguars

Yes, you are correct in that. However, and certainly I can be wrong, I have NEVER seen a PL (U) 1974 or previous years from the FM. I won't tell you how long I've collected these. LOL
A secondary check would of course be weight as the CuNi weigh significantly less than the sterling (0.925) coins; if conforming to weight of silver then that would pretty much seal it as the proof.

1974 CuNi T&T $10 - 30.32 gm. (weighed mine)
1974 Ag. T&T $10 - 35.00 gm.

MasonG

@7Jaguars said:
Yes, you are correct in that. However, and certainly I can be wrong, I have NEVER seen a PL (U) 1974 or previous years from the FM. I won't tell you how long I've collected these. LOL

I don't have that kind of history with these. I know the different finishes but not specializing in these issues, I wouldn't know for which dates the different finishes exist.

@7Jaguars said:
A secondary check would of course be weight as the CuNi weigh significantly less than the sterling (0.925) coins; if conforming to weight of silver then that would pretty much seal it as the proof.

The coin I have is definitely CuNi. It's the eBay piece I was curious about and I suspect it's silver, even though the seller didn't describe it as such.

7Jaguars

Yes, I would bet on that.
Interestingly, the FM did occasionally produce some extremely rare patterns for what I can only imagine was "internal use only", and not marketed at the time. These rarely got out, but I suppose there is a remote possibility it could be.

7Jaguars

Ah, shouldn't have gotten me started! on the uncirculated coins the following is the best guide:

(U) Prooflike uncirculated struck in the years 1975-1984. Some of the "odd year issues" after the mint had supposedly shut down may be found possibly - like the Treasure Coin series of the BVI or some [I think] Cook Island commem. But mainly These were issued in the specimen sets and then also for circulation, the first for circulation were apparently 1977.

(M) Matte uncirculated struck in the years up through 1977. Then, as was brought to my attention earlier this year they struck some what I would term satin finish (but could possibly be considered matte) in 1984 for Liberia. The catalogs say there were also 1983 satin/matte coins struck for Liberia - nobody has seen these however.

These were in the sets up through 1974, and then were supposedly released to the Central Banks in the years 1975-1977, and then the odd duck Liberia 1984 coins as well.

Some have questioned if the FM ever struck actual circulating coins for countries and the answer is yes - at least as far as the smaller denominations go & I have seen such specifically for Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, T&T, and I believe Guyana and Papua. There is another poster that says by recall Fiji and Solomons as well...
I have not seen the larger circulation quality coins to circulate but believe they were issued to the Central Banks. What happened to these type of uncirculated coins is something of a mystery but have gotten some extremely rare specimens that appear to have been in bags or similar. The gold issues are tricky in this regard but are another story.

1984worldcoins

@7Jaguars said:
(M) Matte uncirculated struck in the years up through 1977. Then, as was brought to my attention earlier this year they struck some what I would term satin finish (but could possibly be considered matte) in 1984 for Liberia. The catalogs say there were also 1983 satin/matte coins struck for Liberia - nobody has seen these however.

These were in the sets up through 1974, and then were supposedly released to the Central Banks in the years 1975-1977, and then the odd duck Liberia 1984 coins as well.

Very interesting, I need to research that!