Challenge Coin Craziness

If you asked me this morning whether I’d be spending my Monday night delving deep into the world of challenge coins, I’d have called you crazy. And yet, here I am, searching the internet for information about how to detect fake challenge coins and looking (without success) for a list of currently-authorized coins.

Let me back up. Do you know what a challenge coin is? Wikipedia actually gets this one right —  we’re talking about small coins or medallions issued by an organization with their insignia. They can be gifted to visitors or members, traded, and collected. I actually have three in my office – one a gift from a speaker, one a gift from an agency I visited, and one that I bought because it was super cool (it’s from the U.S. consulate in Tijuana).

So what prompted my sudden interest in these coins tonight? This listing on ebay:

Yup. That’s a Speedy Gonzales challenge coin for ERO at DHS. (Kevin’s talked about Speedy before, check out this post from 2011).

So, I can’t tell you if this is a “real” challenge coin authorized by ERO. According to this video, we should take confidence in that this is a seller with a long record who allows returns. Although the video also has this helpful advice: “you cannot be 100% confident that what you are buying is real or not. It is just a matter of intuition and good judgment.” Thank you, least-helpful-advice-on-the-internet.

If it’s intuition we’re relying on, I’ll guess this isn’t from the ERO. Anyone have actual facts to shed on its authenticity?

Real or not, it’s for sale. And that bums me out.

-KitJ