Military Coins
DESCRIPTION:
Join the hundreds of thoroughly satisfied commanders in the US Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army, and Coast Guard who have ordered their custom challenge coins for their squadrons, units and battalions from us. We make sure that your challenge coin recipients will value and cherish their hard-earned coins for the rest of their lives.
We have produced some of the most inspiring military and challenge coins for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, EMS, Fire and Police Departments around the country, as well as for many agencies abroad. Many of our corporate customers have employee performance and project recognition programs, commemorating important milestones or the completion of a momentous project with a custom designed coin.
PROCESS:
Our experienced staff can give you suggestions to enhance or modify your design as needed in order to ensure that your design is most suitable for production. Your design, once completed, perfected and approved is die struck into thick bronze or copper. Both the front and the back of your coin are struck at the same time. According to the design specifications, the coins are then electroplated (see our available finishes) sandblasted, and polished. Though all color is added individually by hand, hard enamel color is added before polishing, while soft enamel is added after polishing.
The Legend of the Challenge Coin
Air warfare was a new concept during World War I. Unlike earlier times when militia were manned by working-class men, air squadrons were manned by men from all walks of life, wealthy or poor. As the story goes, one wealthy lieutenant had a custom coin created as a gift to his unit as a memento of their service together. The coin was gold-plated and quite valuable. One of the other soldiers, who had never owned anything of such value became very attached an began to wear the coin in a pouch around his neck for safekeeping.
The young soldier’s habit of sentimentally carrying the coin with him at all times would later save his life. Finding himself trapped behind enemy lines with a damaged aircraft, he struggled to return to safety without success. He was trapped by German soldiers and on his way to a permanent prisoner of war facility when, by some stroke of luck, allied forces attacked and took the German camp. However, having no form of identification after being stripped of his belongings by his in-prisoners the French army nearly executed him for worry that he was an enemy soldier. The coin he wore around his neck was the only thing that distinguished him as an aly-thus saving his life.
Thus began the tradition of carrying one’s squadron coin at all times.
