# Challenge coins



## eddy current (Feb 28, 2009)

Is this still a thing? 

Does your local have them now or did they in the past?


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## Chops146 (Aug 26, 2018)

Mine's in my pocket right now.


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## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

Unions have challenge coins? Thought that was just a military thing.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

What's the point? 

I was very young when I stopped sleeping with a teddy bear.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

Had to look it up. Gay

Seems like it would make a nice ball marker though. Are they magnetic?


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

Overdone, no longer special.


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## eddy current (Feb 28, 2009)

sbrn33 said:


> Had to look it up. Gay
> 
> Seems like it would make a nice ball marker though. Are they magnetic?


Too big to be a ball marker. Usually about the size of a silver dollar (or twonie for the Canuks)


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## Chops146 (Aug 26, 2018)

eddy current said:


> too small to be an electrician's balls marker. Usually about the size of a silver dollar (or twonie for the canuks)


fify


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## Bird dog (Oct 27, 2015)

drsparky said:


> Overdone, no longer special.


Why was it special in the first place? Part of a drinking game at the bar?


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## cabletie (Feb 12, 2011)

I didn't know that thing had a name. When I got mine I looked like Ralphie when he didn't get his Red Rider pellet gun. 

I think they give them Flukes T-5 testers now at the graduation party.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

cabletie said:


> I didn't know that thing had a name. When I got mine I looked like Ralphie when he didn't get his Red Rider pellet gun.
> 
> I think they give them Flukes T-5 testers now at the graduation party.


Yeah. I have been out of the loop for a while so I don't know what's given out today, but 7 or 8 years ago I remember they were giving the apprentices Fluke 322 Clamp Meters when they topped out. A nice meter, very similar to the T5 in functions.


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## union5app (Aug 19, 2016)

I got a knife when I topped out last year.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

union5app said:


> I got a knife when I topped out last year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


Much more useful than a crappy coin.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

sbrn33 said:


> Had to look it up. Gay
> 
> Seems like it would make a nice ball marker though. Are they magnetic?


Normally they are solid brass


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## Chops146 (Aug 26, 2018)

MechanicalDVR said:


> Normally they are solid brass


Ours used to be polished copper, but I lost that one. Brass now, which is a shame. Polished copper looked nice.


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

union5app said:


> I got a knife when I topped out last year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


Not in the back, I hope :surprise:

:biggrin:


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## eddy current (Feb 28, 2009)

We don’t get anything from the union when we top out. 

Our apprentices go to a college for their schooling along with non union workers. (Government funded) Then they write a country wide government exam to become a journeyman.


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## Bird dog (Oct 27, 2015)

eddy current said:


> We don’t get anything from the union when we top out.
> 
> Our apprentices go to a college for their schooling along with non union workers. (Government funded) Then they write a country wide government exam to become a journeyman.


One place I worked the employer stopped accepting union electrician cards & required a copy of their state card. Some people left because they had no state card.


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## Navyguy (Mar 15, 2010)

In the military there are two types of coins; presentation coins and challenge coins.

Presentation, just as it suggests are a "feel good" token for saying BZ to a member or something like that. The challenge coin generally has a serial number associated with it to show a type of "standing" within the group it was presented. Perhaps think of it as seniority so to speak.

You can pretty much purchase any unit presentation coin out there and unit CO coins are pretty freely available too as they give them out like candy. Challenge coins on the other hand are fairly rare in the context that generally only "special units" or "sub-units" create the coins.

So as an example there might be a "ship's coin" which everyone might have (could be purchased or provided), then there would be the ship's "CO's coin" which would have a limited distribution, but could go to anybody on the ship or ashore and then there might be a "Wardroom Coin" which would be serialized and only given to the members of the Wardroom. The "Wardroom Coin" would generally be given more appreciation because it is limited in it's distribution and would likely have a "pecking order" to it.

While it is done in the Navy and Air Force, it is primarily a Army Regimental custom which has morphed to the mainstream military culture.

Cheers
John


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