Published on: 25 Apr 2018
Last modified on: 30 Jan 2025
Looking for memorable designs for your custom commemorative coins?
Whether you need a unique emblem, a catchy bar challenge coin, or a serious memorial coin to boost the morale of your unit, a well-designed custom coin can help your organization.
Read on to find out some popular and interesting custom coin ideas to inspire you for your own creations!
Military challenge coins are meant to be carried and displayed with pride. If you aim to award your unit with coins they can use in bar coin challenges, then the coins should really stand out.
The challenge coin check is a popular game among servicemen. It's played as follows.
One service member challenges another, or a whole group, to present their challenge coins. If the challenged party doesn't have their coins with them, they must buy the challenger a drink. If everyone in the challenged party has their coins, the challenger has to buy everyone a round of drinks!
Bar challenge coins are a simple, funny, and a great way to build strong bonds among team members who have achieved a noteworthy goal. To be effective, you have to make the bar challenge coins small so they can be carried with convenience, but also catchy enough for servicemen to share a drink over their design.
Memorial coins serve the original purpose of challenge coins. They remind servicemen of those who served before them, and of those who fought and fell bravely in the field.
These military coins are almost always serious and sometimes even somber. Their design is austere and invokes feelings of national pride. They boast flags, national symbols, and unit insignia.
For example, the Silent Service issues submariner memorial coins that list the hull number of every submarine that was lost defending the nation. There are many modern memorial coins that commemorate the US War of Independence, as well as the first and second world wars.
Memorial coins can also be used for police and firefighter units.
Animal themed coins are very popular among military units. They depart from the usual round design and boast all sorts of interesting shapes and colors.
Some of the most popular animal themed coin designs include coins in the shape of snakes, panthers, lions, bats, sharks, and eagles. Special operation units often issue coins that depict stealthy animals, or animals known for their ferocious ability in combat. Most recently, many units have started issuing batman-themed challenge coins in the shape of a bat.
The Naval Air Warfare Center in Orlando has issued a Mickey Mouse-shaped challenge coin that depicts submarines, destroyers, and aircraft carriers, but alludes to Disneyland, which is next to the center.
Sometimes commemorative coins don't have to resemble a coin at all! Many units and companies create custom coins that can be worn. For example, belt buckle and dog tag coins are very popular and can really grab attention.
Both belt buckle and dog tag coins can also be used easily as bar challenge coins, because they are easy to carry and equally easy to present at a moment's notice.
Necklace coins are less popular, because they are often made to resemble jewelry, but can be a good choice depending on whom are you awarding them to.
Key chain coins are simply coins with an attachable chain. This gives them the added usability doubling as key chains. This smart design is easy to implement and costs next to nothing.
The only downside to key chain commemorative coins is that they tend to weigh a person's key chain, especially if they have more than one. Also, the extra chain becomes a nuisance for people who don't intend to use the coin as a key chain.
One of the coolest design ideas, usable coins double as actual tools! Many mechanical units issue coins that resemble rulers, wrenches, combo spanners and even screwdrivers of tiny proportions.
These tools are all usable and can actually come in handy in the everyday lives of those who carry them.
Another very popular tool design is the bottle opener coin. You know you need a bottle opener when you're going out, and these coins make for excellent bar challenge coins.
Naval and aerial units tend to spend a lot of time inside specific vehicles. Whether it's a helicopter, a carrier plane or a destroyer ship, you get to practically live inside these vehicles for dozens of hours each month.
A vehicle-shaped coin will remind servicemen of the ship they serve on, and carrying one around is a great way to strike a conversation with other servicemen.
Not all commemorative coins have to be serious to be unique. Seasonal coins, joke coins, and even plain silly coins are a great choice to lighten up the atmosphere or add a tone of color in your unit.
Servicemen leaving a long deployment are often awarded a South Park-themed coin that reads: "SCREW YOU GUYS. I'M GOING HOME!", and many units feature their own inside jokes on their challenge coins.
So, are you looking for top quality custom coins? Check out Custom Challenge Coins, your one-stop-shop for an exhaustive array of custom commemorative coins.
With fifteen years of experience in the field, we develop some of the best custom coin designs in the world, featuring unique artwork and top-tier craftsmanship.
If you're out of ideas, the experts at Custom Challenge Coins will help you get the design your unit deserves, and ship the coins to you free of charge with reputable courier services.
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