By using oil in water micelles, cobalt ferrite particles having an average diameter around 3 nm were synthetised. These nanoparticles are characterized by the presence of cation vacancies and no Fe(II) is observed, as it has been described in literature previously. Chemical interfacial treatment allows to coat the particles with citrate derivatives. The magnetic properties of uncoated and coated particles strongly diluted in a polymer substrate are compared by magnetization measurements and 57 Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The anisotropy constant is shown to be independent of coating, whereas the magnetization is found to be larger in the uncoated particles.PACS. 75.50.Tt Fine-particle systems -76.80.+y Mössbauer effect; other γ-ray spectroscopy -75.30.Cr Saturation moments and magnetic susceptibilities