From Concept to Coin: Creating, and Ordering A Custom Challenge Coin

At Signature Coins, creating custom coins is easy.

Your unit’s challenge coin is more than a token - it’s a symbol of the unity, teamwork, and the shared experiences of everyone bearing the coin. Every order is special and all of our coins are custom-made to every order and we do everything to meet any special requests or needs. In this article, we’ll cover in-depth the three step process you’ll follow in getting your order from coin to concept and answer some of the most common questions we get about the process.

Step One: Get Your Free Preliminary Estimate

Call us to speak to a representative or fill out this form (link to quote form) and we’ll work to bring your coin to life. Bring your logo, text, thoughts or ideas. We have a staff of graphic artists who will create your design from any information that you can provide to us. Whether you have a design drawn up, a concept on paper, or you have no idea where to start, we will guide you through the process of:

• Taking your concept or idea and fitting it to the final product.
• Deciding the colors, size, shape, plating, and edging, of your challenge coin.
• Finding the right quantity for your order.
• Choosing the perfect packaging for your challenge coins and shipping them off on time.

Once you’ve decided the exact specifications for your order, we will send you a preliminary estimate for the design, and get to work developing a full proof of concept.

I need a coin, but have no idea what design to use

If you have no design in mind, we do everything to interview, research, and otherwise help you fully conceptualize the perfect design ourselves, taking into account any special emblems, symbols, colors, or major identifying factors that are important to your needs. We’ll walk you through every step of the process and keep in contact throughout the entire design process until we come up with something you find perfect.

I have a really special idea, but it might be an unusual shape or design

Perfect! All of our coins are made custom for every order. As part of your estimate, we will take on any special requests you might have for the coin’s design including modifying it into unique shapes, making them larger than our listed sizing options, adding unique functionalities such as bottle openers or screwdrivers, or using unique materials.

Whatever you imagine, we’ll do everything in our power to make it happen.

Step Two: Proofing and Ordering Your Challenge Coin

We pride ourselves on service and speed.

Once all of the information has been submitted to us, we’ll immediately work on developing a free digital color proof of your written description or sketch and send a finalized price quote (which is rarely different from the initial quote) for your project back to you typically within 24 to 48 hours.

At that point we’ll proceed in one of two ways:

1. If you approve of final pricing and the digital proof, that’s great! We will begin production immediately after processing payment.
2. If you don’t like what you see, no problem. We can revise the final coin design with whatever changes you want to make. Our company offers unlimited free revisions to your order to make sure every detail  is exactly as you order. Once we you’re completely satisfied with the design, we’ll immediately go back to option one and get your order underway.

Step Three: Receiving Your Finished Coins

We will immediately begin production after completing your order and have it delivered usually within 14 business days via FREE UPS Air shipping. We guarantee every order and product we manufacture and offer free replacement of any defective product within 30 days of receipt.

Factors that might change the time to complete your order

After your approval of our proof we begin production immediately and can usually get your coins delivered within 14 business days, but some factors can either shorten or lengthen the amount of time it takes to complete your order.

• Orders of 300 - 5,000 can actually be done faster than orders below 299, and shave off up to three days off of the production time. Orders over 5,000 may take longer depending on the design.
• Orders requiring more than seven painted colors on either side this might add 0-5 days to production depending on the design of the coin.
• Specialty or unique paints may require special methods or orders that will increase the production time by up to three days.
• Special physical requests such as dual plating or bottle opener functionality can add 1-3 days to production. More drastic physical requests such as adding screwdriver or multi-tool functionality to a challenge coin can increase production times by 10-20 days.