Air Force
Challenge Coins
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What are Air Force challenge coins?
Air Force challenge coins are metal and small enough to carry every day. They are made for a unit, group, wing or office. You order one so the outfit’s identity sits in metal and you give the coin in person. A custom shape can follow the outline of your emblem.
You are thanking an airman face to face when custom Air Force coins change hands. Your squadron name and patch leave the wall and become a coin that airmen carry. A chief can pass one across in front of the unit at the end of the duty day when someone’s work stood out. People keep these for decades. They pull one out to tell the story of a deployment or an anniversary.
New to challenge coins? Learn what a challenge coin is, its history, and traditions »
See why customers choose All About Challenge Coins
Honor the
maintainers
The office behind an aircraft keeps it flying, and so do the maintainers and engineers who rarely hear their names in public. Name the shop on the rim. An extra 3D mold lets the tail number and the aircraft rise off the face, and a first sergeant sets the coin in a maintainer’s palm on the flight line once a long stretch is done.
Coin the
squadron
Your outfit already has an insignia and a nickname airmen say out loud. Everyone from the newest arrival to the chief carries the squadron’s coin. You offer one when people join and when you depart.
Hand it
out yourself
Your name sits on a commander’s coin. So does the unit you lead. During a visit or an all-call, you place it in an airman’s hand while the formation watches, and at a change of command you call people forward and leave that same coin with them as you step down.
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We've got answers
If you are designing and ordering coins for your unit or wing, these questions should help.
We offer gold, silver and copper platings standard with our orders. We also offer upgraded antique finishes that give an aged look to your coins. Antique finishes help greatly when your design is mostly metal (die struck) as the darker recessed areas provide a greater contrast for text and fine lines. We also offer some specialty colored metals that have a similar appearance to powder-coating (no charge), black nickel (a shiny gunmetal appearance), and now an iridescent rainbow plating (price on request).
The minimum order is 50 coins, but we always recommend ordering 100 due to the quantity discount at this quantity. Typically ordering 100 coins is only ~20% more expensive than ordering 50.
Our coins are made from brass metal if they are round. If the coins are a special shape or feature a high-relief 3D design, the material is a zinc alloy. We can also make coins out of copper, iron, and aluminum depending on your needs.
We keep your coin’s mold for a period of 3 years. If you reorder in that 3 year period, the 3 year storage period starts over!
We have multiple options for production location depending on your design choice and budget. We have manufacturing here in Florida and also overseas. Please consult with one of our sale professionals about what will work best for your challenge coin order.
You do not pay for a mold fee again on a reorder as long as the previous mold is still on file (kept for 3 years from the latest order date).