The history of “challenge coins” is almost one hundred years old and began in the American army. Every company has its own logo. The commander had (and has) challenge coins made in accordance with this logo to strengthen the unity within the company. This tradition was quickly adopted by the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Soon after, a special ritual arose: “in a pub, when a soldier showed his coin to a colleague, that colleague needed to show his coin immediately (the challenge). If he could not show his coin, he had to buy a drink for the challenger, but if he could produce the coin, the challenger had to pay.” Later on these coins were introduced to fire brigades, police and other organisations. Nowadays you find coins all over; in sport clubs, heraldry, student associations and even in private businesses who consider them as a special gift. In America, millions of coins have been made and today many of these coins have become collector’s items. Needless to say that today special coins can be worth thousands of dollars.
