You can judge the importance of challenge coins and know about its popularity by watching the behavior of the Presidents and the Ex-Presidents who exhibit these challenge coins at the Oval Office desk in the honor of the assassinated brave soldiers. Previously this custom of distributing the coins among the members was only common among the army and the air force units but later on this became so popular that even other organizations also adopted it. For this
coin maker is hired, to whom you can order the number of coins to manufacture and use them for the purpose boosting the morale and confidence of the members.
How it all began
There are many stories associated with the origin of these coast guard coins but no one knows exactly that from where this trend started. One of the interesting anecdote about it is that there was the air force pilot who was saved during the WWII, just because of this lucky ordnance. At time of WWII, when the US military was posted at the occupied Germany, West German Pfennig coin had very low worth than the US dollar and someone who got it was said to broke. For assurance that every service person possess the coin, the challenge tradition was followed at the drink gathering where any person may call for the Pfennigs then all of them had to empty the pockets for Pfennig. If a person had the coin then he was called as the broke and not required to purchase the drinks. And the unlucky ones who fails to do so were asked to purchase the next round of drinks.
Whatever the origin, the tradition of distributing coins and medallions soon spread to all units and organizations of military, and the members proudly carried these challenge coins on their chests or pockets to show their solidarity with the organization.
Coast Guard Coins
The coast guard coins are the same as the challenge coins that are distributed among the members of the air force that is also the branch of an army who are ready to serve for the country any time. If you are in USCG as an officer, you must consider giving out these coast guard coins to the members of your unit to spread the feelings of solidarity and allegiance among the unit members. You may also use these coins to reward any of the member who offered distinguished services and maintained conduct.
The importance of a challenge coin can never be underestimated even though it has become a collector's delight and people buy them at auctions or get them from various companies having set their shop on the internet. There are number of experts or coin makers available in the country who can easily carve out the insignia over the metal. Whatever your need is, you can easily get the best coin maker by searching over the internet as because this trend is very popular now.
Apart from the US, there are several other countries where these challenge coins are being made and today you can get cheap coins made in China or South Korea if you so desire.