Industry Insights

Owning a challenge coin comes with a quiet contract. You're supposed to carry it. That's the entire premise behind a "coin check," and if you're new to it, here's how not to get caught buying a round. Anyone can initiate a check, anywhere, anytime, traditionally by slapping a coin on a bar or table, or holding it up and calling "coin check." Once it's called, every coin holder present has to produce theirs. You get up to three steps away to retrieve your coin if it's not alr

Once you approve a final design, your coin isn't finished. It's just getting started. Here's what happens between approval and the box on your doorstep. First, mold and die creation: your approved artwork gets engineered into a physical die, the tool that actually stamps your design into metal. Next, striking: the die presses your design into blank metal coins, giving every piece its raised and recessed detail before any color goes on. Then plating, in your chosen finish, whi

You've probably heard the story. A wealthy WWI pilot commissions bronze medallions for his squadron. He's shot down behind enemy lines. He's saved from execution because a French soldier recognizes the coin in his pocket. It's the story nearly every coin company tells. Even the biggest names in the industry admit, if you read the fine print, that nobody can actually verify it happened. No unit is named. No coin has ever surfaced. Military archivists who searched WWI-era recor

A lot of coin companies charge you before you've even seen a concept: a design fee here, a mold fee there, handling fee, shipping fee, an account rep taking a cut somewhere in the middle. By the time you get a quote, you're not sure what you're actually paying for. If they say it is free, is it really? I am happy to disclose the challenge coin process so you can make your own decision. I do it differently, on purpose. Design is free, always. You shouldn't have to pay to find