As I was CRH today, I find from time to time cents that have a matte look to them. The fields are not glossy and smooth like you would find on a freshly minted cent. However I can't figure out what causes this.
What dates are you talking about? The UNC sets from the mint set have a special finish from 2005 [satin] till 2010. Now they are back to the normal regular finish. I hope this helps. They did have coins with "Matte" finishes in the 1909 till about 1930 on some coins.
How much wear do these coins have ? It doesn't take much to destroy the luster. Or it could be as Larry said, worn dies. Worn dies produce what is called the orange peel effect, and that lends a somewhat matte look to the coin.
Ya. Orange peel would be the best way to describe it. They minted billions of cents, so I'm sure they used the dies for a lot of coins.
I would think that generalized corrosion ( thin layer) would be the most likely. I find it more often on cents in collections that aren't handled often than in cents of same date that circulate and come up in rolls. Circulation tends to rub the thin layers off before they can become more established. Even rolls of BU coins can show same difference depending on how well they were stored ( environment wise).
