A memorial challenge coin is made to remember someone who has died, or to mark a loss an organization has suffered. Unlike other challenge coins it is usually kept rather than carried, it is often given to a family as well as to colleagues, and its design is deliberately restrained.
What Is a Memorial Challenge Coin?
A memorial coin records a death in service, or a group of them. It is the one kind of challenge coin that is not a reward for anything.
That changes what the object is for. A unit coin or an award coin is meant to be carried, handed over, put down on a bar, traded and eventually worn smooth. A memorial coin is meant to sit in a drawer, a shadow box or a uniform pocket and stay as it is. People do not challenge with them.
It also changes who receives them. Every other coin on this site goes to members of the organization that ordered it. A memorial coin goes to the family first, then to the people who worked alongside the person, then often to the agencies who sent representatives to the service. Some are presented at a memorial event, some are handed out at a wall or monument dedication, and some are kept in reserve and given quietly to colleagues over the years that follow.
That is why the practical questions are different. Quantity is harder to judge, presentation matters more than it does on a working coin, and the date of a service is usually fixed, which makes turnaround the first thing to establish rather than the last.
Who Orders Memorial Coins?
Departments and agencies. The most common source. A department that loses a member usually produces something for the family and the shift, and the order is placed through the agency’s administrative side.
Units, precincts, stations and divisions. The immediate group is often the one that actually organizes it, particularly when the wider agency has a formal memorial programme already.
Associations, lodges, unions and locals. Police lodges, firefighter locals and veterans’ organizations frequently handle these on behalf of a family, and they are also the bodies that run annual remembrance events. See how police lodge and association coins and fire service coins are usually put together.
Memorial funds and foundations. Established after a loss, often to fund a scholarship or a monument, and coins are frequently one of the things they produce and sell to support it.
Academy classes and colleagues privately. A class that loses a member, or a group of friends who want something of their own.
The occasions follow from that: a line of duty death, the first anniversary of one, a memorial service, a wall or monument dedication, an annual remembrance ceremony, and a retirement or funeral for someone whose loss the organization feels keenly.
The minimum order is 50 coins. In practice that suits how these are usually ordered, because the department, the association or the memorial fund places the order rather than the family, and the coins go to the family, the unit, attending agencies and the people who come to the service. Funds that produce a coin to support a scholarship or a monument generally order well above the minimum because the coin is also the fundraiser.
What Goes on a Memorial Coin?
The family or the department decides, and we work from whatever they have. A photograph of a patch, a badge number written on a note, an order of service, a scanned prayer card. None of it needs to be artwork.
What these coins usually carry:
- The agency, unit or department emblem, engraved rather than filled with color
- A name, and where the family wants it, a rank or title
- Dates. Dates of birth and death, dates of service, or a single date. Police and fire designs frequently use end of watch. Military designs often use the date of loss or the name of the operation
- A badge number, unit number or call sign, which for many families is the detail that matters most
- A motto, a scripture, a line from a poem or a few words the family chooses
- A mourning band or ribbon, the black band across a badge, or a service ribbon where one applies
- A thin blue, red or green line, where the department uses one
Two things are worth saying plainly to anyone commissioning one. Names and dates engrave cleanly at coin scale as long as the text is kept to a few lines, so there is no need to crowd it. And if the family is unsure what they want on it, the safest version is the emblem, the name and one date, because a plain coin ages better than a crowded one.
Why Memorial Coins Use Less Color
Color reads as celebration. That is the whole of it.
A unit coin uses enamel to separate elements, carry the branch colors and make the design bright enough to notice across a room. On a memorial coin those same qualities work against it. Full color enamel on a design about a death looks like a souvenir, and families notice immediately even when they cannot say why.
So memorial designs get their contrast from metal instead. Two tones, a matte or antique base with the engraving finished in a second shade, gives the design as much separation as color would while keeping the whole object quiet. Antique silver with brass lettering, antique copper with silver, matte nickel with a polished engraving, all work on the same principle.
This CBP coin is a clear example. The base is matte silver, the engravings and lettering are finished in brushed and toned brass, and the whole design is carried on the difference between those two tones. Paint appears exactly once, on the ribbon, in blue with a turquoise tint behind it.
That single use of color is the other half of the principle. One deliberate color on an otherwise monochrome coin draws the eye straight to it and carries more weight than a full palette ever would. If there is one element that should be seen first, a ribbon, a line, a flag, color it and leave everything else in metal.
About This CBP Memorial Coin
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for border security and customs enforcement. This coin was commissioned to honor CBP officers and agents who died in service.
The brief asked for something classic and restrained. The front carries the CBP eagle, engraved. The reverse carries the Department of Homeland Security emblem, also engraved. The base metal is matte silver, the engraving and lettering are finished in brushed and toned brass, and the only paint on the coin is the blue of the ribbon with a turquoise tint behind it.
No shaping, no cut-outs, no 3D scene, no enamel fill across either face. For more of the agency’s work outside of memorials, see our Customs and Border Protection coins and the wider set of Homeland Security challenge coins.
Can We Use an Agency Emblem on a Memorial Coin?
Most agencies can, but the authorisation has to come from the agency, not from us. Agency emblems, seals, badges and department insignia are controlled by the organizations that own them, and federal emblems in particular are governed by their own rules.
The practical version is straightforward. Clear the artwork through your own chain of command before you order, and send us artwork your organization is authorised to supply. We produce from what the customer provides and we do not grant permission on anyone’s behalf. If a family is ordering rather than a department, the department is usually the right place to ask.
Commissioning a Memorial Coin
Say the date first. Memorial coins are almost always needed for a service, a dedication or an anniversary, and that date decides everything else. Standard production runs about 45 to 50 days after final artwork approval, and rush production is available on many projects, but the earlier the deadline is known the more options there are.
Professional artwork is free, with unlimited revisions, and nothing goes into production until you approve a digital proof. The minimum order is 50 coins. Shipping within the continental United States is included. Embleholics is veteran-owned, SDVOSB, and registered in SAM.gov. For coins marking anniversaries and milestones rather than a loss, see our commemorative challenge coins. To start a memorial project, request a quote and tell us the date of the service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a memorial challenge coin?
A memorial challenge coin is a custom coin made to remember someone who died in service, or to mark a loss an organization has suffered. It is usually kept rather than carried, it is often presented to the family as well as to colleagues, and its design is deliberately restrained compared with a working unit coin.
Who can order a memorial coin?
Departments, agencies, units, associations, lodges, unions, memorial funds and academy classes all order memorial coins, and colleagues sometimes organize one privately. In most cases the department or the association places the order on behalf of the family rather than the family placing it directly.
What goes on a memorial coin?
A memorial coin usually carries the agency or unit emblem, a name, one or more dates, and a badge, unit or call sign number. Many also carry a short motto, scripture or line chosen by the family, and a mourning band, service ribbon or thin line where the department uses one.
Can a name and dates be engraved on a memorial coin?
Yes. Names, ranks, dates of service and end of watch dates all engrave cleanly at coin scale as long as the text is kept to a few short lines. Send the wording exactly as the family wants it to appear and it will be set into the artwork before the proof is issued.
Why do memorial coins use so little color?
Memorial coins use little color because color reads as celebration, and full enamel on a design about a death tends to look like a souvenir. Contrast comes from two tones of metal instead, such as brass engraving on a matte silver base, with a single color used only where one element should be seen first.
Can memorial coins be made in time for a service?
Often yes, but the date has to be raised at the start. Standard production runs about 45 to 50 days after final artwork approval, and rush production is available on many projects. Tell us the date of the service when you first make contact so the schedule can be built backward from it.
Can we use our agency’s emblem on a memorial coin?
Agency emblems, seals and badges are controlled by the organizations that own them, so permission has to come from the agency rather than from a manufacturer. Clear the artwork through your chain of command and send us artwork your organization is authorised to supply.
What is the minimum order for memorial coins?
The minimum order for custom challenge coins is 50 coins. That figure generally suits how memorial coins are distributed, since they go to the family, the immediate unit, attending agencies and people who come to the service, and memorial funds producing a coin to raise money usually order well above it.
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