Most of the advice about challenge coins says to keep dates off them, because a date ages a coin out. A fiscal year coin does the opposite on purpose. This one is a shield-shaped coin marked FY21, carrying the unit insignias on one face and the motto Honor Bound to Defend Freedom etched on the reverse, and the year on it is the point rather than a problem.
A Coin Tied to a Fiscal Year
Units across the military and federal government produce coins by fiscal year, and it is a different proposition from either a unit coin or a one-off commemorative.
A unit coin is meant to stay correct indefinitely. A commemorative marks a single event and is never reissued. A fiscal year coin is one of a series, which means it is designed to be followed by another one, and that changes almost everything about how it should be put together.
The payoff is the part units discover after the second year. A series creates its own demand. Somebody holding FY21 and FY22 wants FY23, and people who joined later want the earlier ones they missed. A single coin is an object; three of them in a row is a set, and sets are kept, displayed and talked about in a way individual coins are not.
Design It as a Template
The mistake is to design each year from scratch. The right approach is to design the series once and change one element.
Fix everything except the year. Same outline, same insignia placement, same finish, same reverse. Then each new year is an artwork revision rather than a new design, which costs less and takes less time.
Put the year where it can be swapped cleanly. A cartouche, a banner, a panel or a defined segment of the rim. What does not work is weaving the digits into the artwork, because then changing the year means redrawing the composition.
Keep the year large enough to read at a glance. On a set, the year is the only thing distinguishing one coin from another, so it is not a detail. People will be holding two coins side by side specifically to tell them apart.
Decide early whether the year is the only change. Some units vary the color each year, which makes the set more collectable and the tooling identical. That is usually the best of both.
Order Backwards From 1 October
This is the practical point and it catches units out every year.
The United States federal fiscal year begins on 1 October. If you want a fiscal year coin in hand at the start of that year, work backwards from that date, not forwards from whenever the idea comes up.
Standard production runs about 45 to 50 days from final artwork approval, and artwork and proofing happen before that clock starts. So a coin needed for 1 October should be in artwork by roughly midsummer, which means the decision has to be made in a quarter when nobody is thinking about the next fiscal year yet. Units that get their FY coins in December are not late orderers, they are units that started in September.
Rush production is available on many projects, and it is a better fallback than a redesign.
Why the FY21 Coin Is a Record
This particular coin illustrates the strongest argument for dating a coin, which is that a dated coin preserves something a timeless one cannot.
The Navy announced on 16 September 2020 that the Coastal Riverine Force would be redesignated the Maritime Expeditionary Security Force. Fiscal year 2021 began two weeks later, on 1 October 2020. So a coin marked CORIVFOR FY21 sits exactly on that boundary, carrying a designation that was in the process of being retired.
A coin designed to be timeless would have been quietly updated and the moment would have disappeared. A dated one keeps it, which is why unit historians and long-serving members value a run of annual coins more than they value any single coin.
Why a Shield Is the Most Forgiving Outline
The coin is shield-shaped, and of all the custom outlines a coin can take, a shield is the easiest to get right.
Most custom shapes fail at thin extremities. A figure has limbs, a leaf has a stem, a cross has inside corners, a star has points. A shield has none of them. It is a broad closed form, wide at the top, tapering to a single gentle point, with no narrow sections and no re-entrant angles. There is nowhere for it to bend and nowhere for stress to concentrate.
It also brings two things with it for free. A shield reads as heraldic, so anything inside it looks official without further work, and the taper creates a natural layout: wide space at the top for insignia, narrowing space below for text. Designs tend to fall into place in a shield in a way they do not in a circle.
The one thing to watch is that a shield has a strong top and bottom, so it has a single correct orientation. On a two-sided coin both faces have to agree on which way is up, which sounds obvious and is a routine proof correction. See custom shaped challenge coins.
About the Force and Its Name
CORIVFOR stands for Coastal Riverine Force, a force within Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. The Navy announced in September 2020 that it would be redesignated the Maritime Expeditionary Security Force, or MESF, to better reflect the breadth of the force’s work, so a search for the current name will find the same organization under a different designation.
See more Navy challenge coins, an Operations Specialist coin, and for the one-off version of a dated coin, the commemorative event coin.
Order a Fiscal Year Coin
Send your unit insignia and tell us whether this is a one-off or the first of an annual series, because a series is designed differently from the start. If you want it in hand for the beginning of the fiscal year, tell us the date you need it and we will work the schedule back from there.
Professional artwork is free with unlimited revisions, the minimum order is 50 coins, and nothing goes into production until you approve a digital proof. Standard production runs about 45 to 50 days after final artwork approval, rush production is available on many projects, and shipping within the continental United States is included. Embleholics is veteran-owned, SDVOSB and registered in SAM.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a fiscal year challenge coin?
A fiscal year challenge coin is marked with a specific fiscal year and issued as one of an annual series, which is common practice in military units and federal agencies. Unlike a unit coin, which is designed to stay correct indefinitely, an FY coin is deliberately dated, and unlike a one-off commemorative it is designed to be followed by another one.
When should a fiscal year coin be ordered?
Work backwards from 1 October, when the federal fiscal year begins. Production runs about 45 to 50 days from final artwork approval, and artwork and proofing happen before that, so a coin needed for the start of the fiscal year should be in artwork by around midsummer. Units whose coins arrive in December usually started in September.
How do you design an annual coin series?
Design it once and change one element. Keep the outline, insignia placement, finish and reverse fixed, and put the year somewhere it can be swapped cleanly, such as a cartouche, banner or panel, rather than woven into the artwork. Each new year then becomes an artwork revision rather than a new design. Varying the color year to year is a popular option because it makes the set more collectable with identical tooling.
Should a challenge coin have a year on it?
It depends what the coin is for. On a unit or organization coin a date is usually a liability, because it ages the coin out and makes leftover stock look superseded. On a commemorative or an annual series coin the date is the content, and a dated coin preserves a moment that a timeless one quietly loses.
How large should the year be on a series coin?
Large enough to read at a glance. On a set, the year is the only thing distinguishing one coin from another, and people will hold two side by side specifically to tell them apart, so it is a primary element rather than a detail.
Why is a shield a good shape for a challenge coin?
Because it has no weak points. Most custom outlines fail at thin extremities such as limbs, stems, star points or the inside corners of a cross, and a shield has none of those: it is a broad closed form with a single gentle taper. It also reads as heraldic, so anything inside it looks official, and the taper gives a natural layout with insignia above and text below.
What was the Coastal Riverine Force renamed to?
The Maritime Expeditionary Security Force, or MESF. The Navy announced the redesignation in September 2020, to better reflect the breadth of the force’s work. It remains part of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
What does CORIVFOR stand for?
Coastal Riverine Force, a force within Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. The designation was retired in favor of Maritime Expeditionary Security Force from September 2020, which is why coins marked CORIVFOR date from before that change.
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