Sometimes, and the low price is usually real rather than a trick. The honest answer is that the coin itself may be fine. What you give up is design support, accountability and recourse.

Where cheap works. A simple design, a generous timeline, a buyer who can read a proof carefully, and a batch where a few imperfect pieces would not matter. Giveaway coins for an event fit this well.

Where it goes wrong. The failure modes are consistent: no proof before production, or a proof too low-resolution to check properly; a design redrawn badly with insignia detail quietly lost; colours that do not match what was agreed; delivery weeks past a date that was promised; and no practical remedy, because pursuing a dispute across jurisdictions costs more than the order.

The question worth asking is not where a coin is made but who answers when it is wrong. A supplier you can reach, who showed you a proof, and who carries responsibility against it, is what the difference buys.

For a unit coin marking a retirement or a deployment, that difference matters. For a conference giveaway, it may not.

See how to tell a coin company is legitimate or our gallery.