What is a challenge coin?
There are many coins and tokens that have no monetary value but are still very collectible and sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. These can be keep-sakes from the past such as transportation tokens, arcade tokens, trolley coins, poker chips, wooden nickels and flattened coins! The largest and most sought after coins that are collected with no face value are challenge coins. What are Challenge Coins? Keep reading to find out!
What is a challenge coin?
Challenge coins have been an American military tradition for nearly a century. Coins were originally meant to inspire soldiers and to boost morale. They were created to bring pride to units and help improve camaraderie between soldiers. Challenge coins can be seen on nearly every ranking officers desk. These can be to simply display and sometimes boast to show how many missions they have been on or how many high ranking officers they have met and exchanged coins with. For some, it is honorable, for others it’s just plain bragging rights. Many people make their own coins and have them manufactured by companies overseas.
How do I make custom challenge coins?
To make custom coins, you must first come up with a design. What kind of coin will you create? Think it over with your team and review the design together to send to your supplier. If you fully flesh out a design idea it will help the company you work with be able bring your design to life easier. The more detail and information they have regarding your coin at conception the more they will be able to deliver exactly what you want for the final product.
When making coins, who do I contact to make them?
There are two main types of suppliers you can choose to use to create coins. The options are: factories and liaison companies. There is a big difference between the two. Either way you choose to create a coin, each will have it’s own set of advantages and disadvantages.
What is a liaison company?
A liaison is a coin company usually based in the United States that works in cooperation with a factory or mint to produce custom manufactured coins. This liaison company will find coin suppliers online usually overseas where labor is cheaper to produce custom items. They perform research to find and retain coin suppliers to create coins so they can sell to customers online. They then buy coins at a discounted rate from their supplier and sell at a mark up to customers all over the world.
What is a coin factory or a supplier?
A factory or mint is a company that makes and produces coins within their own facility. They have all of the necessary machines and technology needed to create custom coins without the help of an outside source. These types of suppliers will reach out and pitch their cimpanies services to liasion companies in an attempt to be their supplier of coins. They will also reach offer their services on websites such as Alibaba.com and DHGate.com. Most of these factories have full size art teams for design and proofing artwork for customers. Factories overseas will likely have cheap pricing especially when bought in bulk. In 2019 cheap price no longer means low quality. Many Chinese factories make great items at a fraction of the cost simply because labor is cheaper in lower income industrial parts of the world.
Contacting a liaision company
When contacting one of these companies, you will have to pay a little bit more than if you did it by yourself factory direct. This seem like a disadvantage when ordering coins however it is a bonus. The extra fees you’d pay a liaision is simply for peace of mind and convenience. Think of it as you trying to repair your car when it breaks versus a car dealership repairing your car. You might be able to fix it on your own but you would likely trust someone else who has experience doing it to take car. Reason being; it makes the entire process go much smoother and easier. The added bonus to using a Liaision is that they keep great relationships with their factory suppliers by sending orders frequently so discounted rates on the coins being supplied. Most liaison companies offer a wide range of services too such as:
Free full color design
Unlimited proofs and revisions of design until ready to order
Discounted & negotiated rates on coins & shipping prices
FREE Shipping in the USA
Quicker shipping & production times
Better quality assurance
Better customer service
No language barriers
Contacting a Factory Directly
So you want to save some money and be brave by using a factory directly. You might ask yourself: How do I find a factory or supplier to make custom coins? The first step would be to go on a supplier search website such as Alibaba.com or DHGate.com that were previously mentioned. These websites are some of China’s biggest supplier websites and are filled with suppliers for all types of different custom and premade items. You can use their search function to narrow down your searches and find exactly the type of supplier you’re looking for. Finding a challenge coin supplier should be fairly easy to do however, there are many factors that need to be considered when choosing an online Chinese factory to make your coins for you.
Can’t I contact a factory and make my own coins cheaper?
Yes. You can definitely contact a factory directly to make your own coins for a fraction of the price. However, by choosing to do so you may run into some issues you aren’t prepared to deal with. If you were to contact a factory without doing research you might find that you end up with an order of coins you are unhappy with because it was misrepresented. The supplier could have low quality coin manufacturing supplies, poor die creation tools which result in poorly struck coins, poor quality control and errors. You can even run into just all around bad customer service. People have been known to have missing coins, damaged items with no replacements and even lost or stolen funds due to a supplier’s mistakes. This isn’t always the case but it can and does happen.
You should seek out a factory based on reviews and feedback from previous customers that can do exactly what you want with no issues! It’s a roll of the dice which is why some people decide to go with a liaision to avoid the hastle. It’s very important to know exactly how to order factory direct because at times there can be a language barrier so always make sure you are very clear in your description when requesting your custom coins.
How do I know which factory to choose on Alibaba?
When searching you want to check things on their profile that are notated right under the suppliers name. For example; On Alibaba you’re able to see 4 very valuable pieces of information before ever contacting a supplier. These are located both in the search and directly on a supplier’s profile right under their display name. They are as follows:
Supplier Age in Years – This tells you how old the company is and how long they have been a member of the Alibaba community. Having an older account doesn’t always make a great company. There are still other variables.
Gold Supplier – These are paid Alibaba.com suppliers. They pay to have their factory shown in the search results and to have the “gold supplier” moniker and badge. The badge also means the factory has regular on-site checks as well as trade assurance.
Trade Assurance – In the event that either your coin’s quality or shipment date varies from the agreed upon date with the supplier, Alibaba.com will help you to resolve the issue with the factory or even get your money back in most cases.
Transaction Level – This badge is a small gemstone and represents how many transactions a supplier has accumulated on Alibaba.com The higher the transaction volume, the higher the score will be. Think of this as being similar to feedback on Ebay.
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What files do I send?
When sending files to a liaison company, you can send no artwork and you will receive a full color digital proof based off your ideas. Most of these companies have artists that are on staff ready to design and create your ideas. You can try this method with factories but you might have some trouble explaining exactly what you want without prepared artwork. Some factories are very accomodating and will be able to design any request you might have. The best file format you can send would be vector. Vector is simply an infinitely scalable file format that can be used to create files to stamp out coins. The accepted file types you can send for the most efficient use would be any of the following vector formats:
- Adobe Illustrator (Ai)
- EPS
- SVG
Any scalable vector graphics will help the company you’re working with immensely. The reason for this is because any artwork that is being drawn will need to be converted to vector. The vector as previously mentioned is used to create the molds that will be used to stamp your coins out of metal.
How long is production?
Production time for custom coins can vary. Coins can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks when using either a factory or a liaison company. It is best to assume that coins will take 14 business days which is normally around 3 weeks from the date of the order. Liason companies might have negotiated production time based on volume and have slightly quicker turn around times so be aware of that. Coins can not be expedited with a rush payment. Normally coins take 14 business days and can not be made any quicker. This is the production time, not shipping time. The coins have to be created from scratch.
What else should I know?
Custom coins are fun to create and share with friends, teammates and coworkers. They will be an item you can keep, cherish and collect for years to come. They will remain a small cheap keepsake that can be displayed to tell stories of times from your work life to your professional and military career.
Have a cool coin you want to show us? Send us an email with a nice picture of it! [email protected]