The Rise of American Made Challenge Coins

8-minute read

It wasn’t that long ago when you only had only one real option for challenge coin manufacturing - China. American coin makers have always been around, but it’s an uphill battle competing with the speed and comparatively low price of coins made overseas. But things are different today. American-made challenge coins are becoming more commonplace, thanks largely in part to a few new coin makers ramping up production here in the States. 

Here at All About Challenge Coins, we finally have the capability to produce our own challenge coins, and other custom products, in-house! It was a long journey, but the rise of American-made challenge coins has been incredible to experience. Subtle differences remain between American-made coins and challenge coins made overseas, and in this article, we want to dive into the details so you know which product is right for your next project.

Why Are Challenge Coins Usually Made Overseas?

Companies like us partner with overseas manufacturing companies for a few reasons, but mainly it’s because they used to be the only option.

Domestic coin makers here in the United States have always been around, but the types of custom coins we design for our clients are generally outside of their capability. Things like dynamic 3D artwork, vibrant enamel colors, and distinctive metal plating options just weren’t possible for a long time. Pricing has always been another factor limiting our ability to offer American-made challenge coins. Our partners overseas are well-established, large-scale manufacturing companies. Not only is the quality of their work outstanding, their pricing is much more competitive. 

But things are slowly shifting. Here at All About Challenge Coins, we’re finally able to design and produce our own coins right here in the United States. There are still subtle differences between coins made overseas and here in our facility, but we’ve managed to create a fantastic product and process. 

A New Wave of American-Made Challenge Coins

We created our own, in-house, coin manufacturing facility because we wanted to give our clients more options. We’re able to create incredibly detailed coins that rival - if not exceed - the quality of many overseas manufacturing facilities. We use a traditional die striking process to stamp a design into brass or aluminum coins, and the results speak for themselves. 

Besides traditional antique gold and silver, we can also produce coins with a cerakote finish. Cerakote is a poly-ceramic material traditionally used as a protective layer for firearms and other metal surfaces that are exposed to elements, and it comes in a variety of colors. 

Our coloring process is where things differ from challenge coins made overseas. Here at All About, we use UV printing to add color and details to your coins. By layering the colors one by one on the surface of your coins, we create a simulated enamel texture, giving your design a sense of depth.

Coins made overseas fill recessed areas of a coin with soft enamel colors, and then cure the coins to let the enamel set. We opted to create a UV printing method so that our coins made in the USA have a distinctive look and feel, without compromising on quality or speed.

As a matter of fact, we recommend choosing an American-made challenge coin to all our clients working with a tight deadline. While coins made overseas generally take three to four weeks for production, plus a few days to ship, the coins we make here in our facility can be produced and shipped in as little as two weeks!

The Future of American-Made Challenge Coins

We’re always looking for new and interesting projects to work on here in our domestic facility. Over the last few years, we’ve been honing our craft, improving our process, and gradually ramping up production to meet the needs of all our clients. We’re proud to offer American-made products and confident in our ability to create amazing challenge coin designs. If you’re still on the fence about choosing to have coins made domestically, consider how it:

Supports our American economy: We want to create more American manufacturing jobs, and, while American-made coins are slightly more expensive now, they’ll only get less expensive as we ramp up production.

Helps Meets Contract Requirements: For many government and military customers, coins are required to be made in the USA, and now we’re finally able to produce an outstanding product right here in-house!

Offers the fastest production times: Depending on your design, we can sometimes have coins stamped and shipped in as little as one day!

Whether you need coins fast or just prefer to choose a challenge coin made here in the USA, we’ve got you covered. Fill out a free quote form to get started on your order of American-made coins today!