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Does Your Department Need Firefighter Challenge Coins?
If you need custom coins for your department, you’ve come to the right place. The coin on the left is one of several we have created for the Cheviot Fire Department in Ohio. The department Chief has been sending us design ideas since 2012, and we have made custom coins celebrating the town’s bicentennial, honoring firefighters in the department, and representing the big city spirit and small-town charm of Cheviot.
Departments all over the country partner with us to create custom coins for celebrations, for fundraising efforts and for recognizing the excellent service of their firefighters. This fire department challenge coin is beautifully crafted with high polish gold plating and carefully formed 3D design elements, and is the perfect example of our exceptional quality and artistic ability.
All of the artwork we produce is custom made from the ideas provided by our clients, making each coin one of a kind. If you have an idea for your own set of firefighter coins, give us a call today to get started.
What Are Firefighter Challenge Coins?
Custom firefighter challenge coins honor courage and commitment and are used by all kinds of different teams across the world. We make coins that celebrate promotions and retirements, and others are carried as a source of courage with the fireman’s prayer pressed into the metal. Some departments like to order bottle opener challenge coins so everyone is ready to pop a cold one after a shift together. No matter the purpose or style of a set of coins, firefighters are supposed to carry one custom coin from their department at all times.
They become something for everyone in the department to share. For rookies, firefighter coins are a great way of being introduced to the team. For veterans, they are a reminder of the years of service shared with others in the station. The firefighter coin designs we make are personal and meaningful and they become a symbol of the group’s identity.
Most Popular Fire Dept Challenge Coin Designs
Firefighter coin designs are unique to every department. Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to partner with some of the largest departments in the world like the New York City Fire Department, but our team helps all kinds of different fire departments across the country come up with the perfect coin designs. Some of the most popular inspirations for any fire station’s coins are department emblems, inspirational quotes and the famous Maltese cross.
Almost every fire department emblem across the country incorporates either the Maltese cross or Florian cross in the design. Both are historically significant symbols that are now associated with the important qualities of a first responder like resourcefulness, sympathy and perseverance among many others. Including something like your department’s emblem or Maltese cross on your custom challenge coins is one of the best ways to make the design more personal and meaningful.
No matter the case, the design is left up to you. Just let us know what you think will fit best, and we’ll make it happen. We take pride in our work and feel honored knowing that our coins are carried by courageous firefighters all over the world.
Academy Graduation & Retirement Coins
Fire academy graduations and retirement ceremonies are two of the most common reasons departments order coins. A class coin with the academy seal, graduation year, and a shared motto gives every rookie something to carry from day one. Retirement coins often include years of service, station assignment, and a personal dedication so the departing firefighter keeps a permanent reminder of the house they served.
Because ceremonies have fixed dates, we work to a 14-day production window after you approve the proof. Send your ideas early enough for free revisions, and your coins land in time for the presentation.
Volunteer vs. Career Department Coins
Volunteer fire departments and career departments order for different rhythms, but both need coins that look like they belong to the house. Volunteer departments often run smaller batches for fundraising, recruitment nights, and annual banquets — sometimes alongside membership and club coins for auxiliary groups. Career departments more often order station sets, promotion coins, and multi-shift runs that cover an entire roster.
Either way, the design starts from your emblem, Maltese or Florian cross, apparatus number, or mutual-aid identity. We also work with combination departments and joint fire/EMS stations that share a coin with EMS challenge coins or police challenge coins for multi-agency events.
IAFF locals order separately from the departments they represent, and the coins look different for it. A local’s coin leads with the local number and the union emblem rather than the department seal, and it gets used for member recognition, memorials, convention trading, and fundraising for the burn foundation and line-of-duty-death funds — which means the order usually needs to cover every member plus a reserve for years of new hires. Locals covering several stations often put the district or city on the reverse so one design serves the whole membership. We also make matching firefighter belt buckles off the same artwork when a local wants a second item for the same campaign.
Firefighter Challenge Coin Customizations
When you come to us to create your own challenge coin for the members of your station, you can expect to get your fire dept challenge coins custom made in three easy steps:
- First, send us your ideas through an online form submission anywhere on our website (you can even download the Signature Coins challenge coin template to make sending us your ideas easier), or by giving us a call. We will then contact you and send you a free proof between 24 and 48 hours later, along with a free price quote.
- Second, review your challenge coin proof for any possible spelling errors, or other modifications you would like to add and get free unlimited revisions during this phase.
- Third, when your coin passes your approval, finalize your order, and we will start the custom coin creation and shipping phase. You can expect to have your challenge coin at your fire department in 14 days or fewer.
A follow-up: This is not a necessary step, but we would be very appreciative if you reviewed our work on Google and Facebook. We take great pride in our artwork and designs and hope that our customers do too. Show off a picture of your challenge coins on social media and review us to show your appreciation.
Ordering Your Own Firefighter Challenge Coins
Custom firefighter coins are carried as a symbol of camaraderie and are awarded to the incredible men and women who are first to respond when disaster strikes. Whether you’re looking for the perfect HAZMAT challenge coin, wildland firefighter challenge coins or any other kind of firefighter coin, our Signature Coins team has everything you need to get started.
All of our products are backed with a 100% quality guarantee and come with an industry-leading turnaround time of 14 days or fewer. This combined with our free artwork and unlimited revisions makes Signature coins the premier challenge coin maker available online. If you have an idea for the perfect coin design, give us a call today, and see how we can help bring your vision to life.
From Your Vision to a Finished Masterpiece
Don't touch a pixel. Our award-winning design team handles everything, you just share your idea and approve the proof.
Explore Finishes & Upgrades
Challenge Coin Pricing
Color on Both Sides (Up to 7 Colors per Side)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Color on One Side (Up to 7 Colors)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
No Color (Metal Only)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Mold Setup Fees
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Custom Coin Customer Reviews
Firefighter Challenge Coin FAQs
Yes. Send a clear photo or scan of your department badge, patch, Maltese cross, or other emblem and our art team will recreate it as coin artwork. Vector files are ideal, but high-resolution photos and existing patch designs work well too. We refine detail so badges and patches read cleanly at coin size, and you get free unlimited revisions until the proof matches your department.
Fire, police, and EMS units often combine the badge with a station number, unit motto, or anniversary date. See our firefighter, police, and EMS challenge coin pages for department examples.
Read more in our Help CenterOur minimum for custom molded coins is 50 per design. Per-coin pricing improves at every quantity tier above that — compare them on our challenge coin pricing page.
If you need fewer than 50, our no-minimum custom coin builder lets you order as few as one coin, and stock and personalized coins have no minimum either. We can also produce a 5-coin pre-production sample against a larger order, though it isn’t cost-effective on its own.
Read more in our Help CenterThrough years of experience, we’ve been able to streamline our process and deliver a superior product faster than any other company.
After the custom coin design (Proof) is approved and ordered, the project goes directly into production, and depending on the design, it can take around 2-5 weeks to manufacture the products!
For instance, a non-colored antique design with no upgrade features, could take us only 3 weeks to produce! If you have a special design, the process will take a few days longer.
Check in with us for more information regarding our timelines for your specific design and our Rush options!
Read more in our Help CenterYes. Per-coin pricing drops as quantity goes up, so department-wide, multi-shift, and multi-station orders usually land in a better price tier than a single squad run. Compare volume pricing on our challenge coin pricing page, then send one quote for the full order so artwork stays consistent across every coin.
Read more in our Help Center
