The Challenge Coin Tradition: Do You Know How It Started?

If you served in the Army or had any connections to it in the past whatsoever, there is a great chance that you are already familiar with the institution of challenge coins. If you didn't have the opportunity tofamiliarize yourself with the subject, I strongly advise looking at the guide by Embleholics (linked below).

Coins were most often presented to the military members who displayed exceptional performance and outstanding courage while performing his military duties. Therefore, these small tokens are a source of great pride bythose they originally presented to.

But, how did this tradition started and where?

Since there were no official military records regarding the inception and existence of challenge coin tradition, I had to dive into the unspoken word of the Internet and try to find an answer to this question. Here iswhat I found.

Most Common Theory
By what can be most commonly found, challenge coins date back to the WWI. By the time USA Army decided to join in the war, there were lots of young students who volunteered for their newly formed Air Squadron.

Namely, one of them was a wealthy lieutenant who wanted all the brave recruits to be presented with some kind of insignia that will help them be recognized throughout the troops and among themselves. He then orderedbronze coins to be engraved with the insignia of the US Air Forces, and presented a coin to each one of his comrades.

Apparently, things weren't going so well on the battlefront for him and he was unlucky enough for his aircraft to be gunned down and he was captured by the Nazis. They stripped him of his belongings, but he somehowmanaged to escape and made it to the other side of the battlefield on foot.

When he reached the Allied camp, French soldiers arrested and imprisoned him accusing him being a German spy because he had no ID to show to them. Luckily enough, one of the French soldiers recognized the insignia of theUS Army on his challenge coin, which ultimately saved his life.

More Probable Theory
I think that everyone will agree that the previous story sounds a bit like a fairy tale and it's too weird to be true. So I kept searching for other solutions and stumbled upon one story that truly feels more realistic thanthe previous one.

This one dates back to the Vietnam war. Apparently, there were military-ran bars on the battlefront. People from the Army didn't like non-military presence in their bars. So someone came up with an idea for every memberof the Army to be presented by a coin, specially designed with the emblem of his own unit.

Therefore, whenever someone walked into a bar, he had to show his coin as a sign of recognition. This practice further developed into what's today known as ''challenge coin'', where any visitor could challenge at any timeeveryone else present in the bar to show their coins.

If someone didn't have his coin with himself, he had to buy a drink for all of the others. This tradition carried on to this very day.

Challenge Coins Today
Challenge coins relate to many different professions and organizations and are not necessarily exclusive only to the military.

Collecting challenge coins and storing them in a special way had become sort of a hobby. Like there's a proper way of packing books, there is an advisable way of how to store and handle your challenge coins.

Some of them have great value (materialistic value, and not only sentimental and emotional as was the case before), and there are even coin traders specialized only in buying and selling these items.

To read the complete Embleholics Challenge Coin guide, see:
All You Need To Know About Challenge Coins (https://embleholics.com/challenge-coins/)