On October 13, 2018, the United States Navy celebrated its 243rd birthday! Sailors come together every year to celebrate by throwing Navy Balls, listening to the CNO and SECNAV birthday messages, and practicing countless other traditions. We are proud to have lent our services to the brave American sailors of our Nation’s Navy over the years, and thought this was the perfect time to look back at some of our favorite Navy challenge coins!
This coin was made for the 2017 Texas Regional Navy Birthday Ball. Most of the challenge coins we make are round in shape, however, this 3.25” x 1.62” coin is crafted to look like an entrance ticket! Sequential numbers were added on the front face to give the tickets an even more authentic feel.
Ticket shaped coins are popular for Navy Balls in general. We made similar coins for the USS Halsey’s 2018 Starry Night Masquerade Ball and 2016 Misawa Navy Ball in Japan.
Out of the handful of coins we have made for the Navy Medical Center at Camp Lejeune, this is one of our favorites. The front side is beautifully detailed with the medical center’s logo, and the flip side has a unique helm and compass design. The coin is framed in a custom high polish gold rope edge that perfectly matches the medical center’s logo.
The inspiration for this coin came from CTF 74’s home base in Yokosuka, Japan. We love this design because it shows how creative our customers can get when making something special for their teams!
This challenge coin is both a bottle opener and a representation of Training Squadron Seven’s logo. The flip side of the coin depicts a T-45C Goshawk training fighter, the jet that pilots train on before moving up to other, more powerful, carrier-based aircraft.
The Navy Medicine Training Support Center in San Antonio has been ordering custom challenge coins from Signature Coins for the past few years. Alan Rucker, the contact on this coin, said, “My projects seem to keep getting bigger and they haven’t let me down!"
We have made some crazy coins over the years, but this is one of our more ambitious projects. A submarine constructed out of 18 interlocking challenge coins. Each coin represents an individual base, facility or vessel, and the puzzle is only constructed when all of these groups come together.
Signature Coins is honored to have the opportunity of making coins like these for our Nation’s service members. The United States Navy has come a long way from its roots back in 1775 as the Continental Navy. We are sure they will continue to innovate and inspire in the years to come!
