Have you heard of the term challenge coin before? It is a small medallion or coin, which will beat the insignia or emblem of an organization and will be carried by the authorized members of that firm only. Previously, these coins were presented to prove membership whenever challenged and for enhancing morale.
Some coins were seen to have created controversies before, and the creators even got threatened with jail sentences. These coins are further collected by law enforcement people and members of servicing community.
If you check out a bit of history, you can see that these challenge coins are presented to a member of the unit by unit commanders to recognize any special achievement. They can be used in exchange for recognized visits to any firm.
Nowadays, you will find some modern-day challenge coins featuring organizational or cultural values. Currently, these coins are available in various sizes and made using cultural references, like well-known mascots, superheroes, and more. These are created in such a way, which will focus on a parody.
More About The Coins:
Most of you will state challenge coins to be small metal coins, which can easily fit within your palm. Metal is the main raw ingredient used for its manufacturing. Each coin has its own design, belonging to the organization that it represents.
- The emblem of the firm is designed directly onto the coin.
- Some coins can even see the company’s motto engraved on the sides or edges of the coins.
- Some of them have colored enamel, as painted right into etching. It depends on the challenge coin design you have chosen for the coins.
- Even though these coins are mainly Round, some coins are available in other shapes.
- Some of the special designs will have unique features or cutouts.
- There are various types of metals used for manufacturing challenge coins. Some of those are bronze, brass, and zinc.
- Then you have other expensive versions like 24-carat gold ones too.
The Representation It Makes:
These challenge coins are designed to represent units, teams, and organizations. They can further mark some achievements like special events or anniversaries of a company. They are designed to create close-knitted bonds among people who have received them for mastering unity.
- They do have a long military history to consider.
- But, you cannot focus on the military for using these coins now. Even the first responder services have some history associated with challenge coins too.
- Right now, the civilian groups are using these coins to represent business accomplishments. It is the promising way to cater to challenge coins.
- These groups are using the coins for building team morale and linking people sharing the same interest level, and promoting brands.
How To Design The Coins:
If it is your first experience in designing challenge coins, then following some significant steps is important. So, learn the processes to follow to get perfect coins for your business in the end.
- You should start by making customized coin molds. It starts by using the computer software CAD. CAD will run the CNC, which is a significant part of the coin production process.
- For the next step, you have to die the striking challenge coins. Die striking is done by using freshly made molds to stamp artwork right into the brass platform.
- Next, you need to cut down the edges and start de-burring the coins. It does not matter how the die striking might be looking right now, cutting and stamping metal create sharper ridges. So, you have to use gloves for handling such end results.
- Now it is time for the customized metal plating and color filling. Depending on the chosen types, these steps might take place in different orders.
- The softer enamel coins will pass through the metal plating process and then focus on color filling. Then you have the hard enamel coins, which will focus on color filling first, followed by metal plating.
The entire process of designing challenge coins is a toughie, and experts with years of experience can handle it with ease. Just make sure to provide them with the details of your work and then let them improve the working scale well. Based on your given information about the organization, the result will vary, making it completely unique from the rest.
