Quick Start
Guide
Customizing Your Coin
Want more tips? Check out our comprehensive guide for more ideas on how to customize your challenge coin.
Send US Your Ideas
Start with whatever you have—notes, examples, or a full design. Our team is here to make the process simple and guide you from the first step.
Get A Proof & Quote
We’ll create a professional design layout and send a clear proof along with your price estimate. You can request tweaks until everything looks right.
Approve & PURCHASE
Once you’re happy with the final proof, approve it and complete your order. Production begins right away, and your custom pieces arrive exactly as planned.
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Die Struck vs Colored
To color or not to color, that is the question… No seriously, we get that kind of question all the time! Challenge coins don’t have to have color to look awesome, but there are a few important things to know. First, it’s always a good idea to choose an antique plating finish if you have raised metal text on a die struck challenge coin. The dark recessed areas make the metallic text much more legible.
Here’s another good tip. Try to use dark colors for to fill areas that have raised metal text or detailing. This is extra important if you’ve decided you want to use a polished plating. Polished metal text on a white background is very hard to read! Lastly, know that we have a finite number of colors in our arsenal. This is because we use the Pantone Solid Coating color matching system.
Our artists will match your colors as close as possible, but if you’d like to see what colors are available you can click the link below:
Coin Size & Manufacturability
When designing a custom challenge coin, you have to keep in mind there are certain limitations to ensure your coin is manufacturable. The size of your challenge coin has the biggest impact on it’s manufacturability. Text and metal detailing can only be made so small, so choosing a larger coin size will give you more space to work with. You may also want to increase the size of your challenge coin to improve things like legibility. When designing your challenge coin, our artists will try to fit as much detail into the design as possible. However, we will simplify the artwork so that it’s manufacturable if it doesn’t meet factory specs.
Challenge Coin Plating Options
High Polished Challenge Coin Plating
Polished plating gives your custom coin a brilliant, mirror-like shine that demands attention. This clean, reflective finish is perfect for designs that emphasize bold colors and modern appeal. Popular options include polished gold, silver, nickel, and copper. Whether you’re designing military challenge coins, corporate awards, or commemorative gifts, polished plating delivers a crisp, professional look that enhances every detail.
Antique Challenge Coin Plating
If you’re aiming for a coin with rich texture and classic depth, antique plating is the way to go. By darkening recessed areas and keeping raised details lighter, antique plating creates a strong sense of contrast and dimension. Available in antique gold, silver, brass, and copper, this finish gives your coin a vintage, time-honored appearance—ideal for service coins, historical themes, and collectibles that convey prestige and legacy.
Dark Metal Challenge Coin Plating
Black metal and black nickel platings offer a sleek, modern alternative to traditional finishes. Black metal plating features a matte, opaque appearance that provides strong contrast against color enamel, making bright designs pop. Black nickel plating, on the other hand, offers a glossy dark finish with subtle shine—giving your coin a contemporary edge while maintaining durability and scratch resistance. Both are excellent choices for teams, tactical units, or brands looking for a bold and refined aesthetic.
Specialty Challenge Coin Plating
For a truly unique look, our specialty plating options allow you to get creative with color and contrast. Colored metal plating can match brand colors or introduce vibrant tones for an eye-catching effect. Anodized plating provides an iridescent, rainbow-like sheen that changes with the light—perfect for modern or futuristic designs. And with dual plating, you can combine two metal finishes—such as polished gold and silver—to emphasize specific elements or borders. These specialty finishes are a great way to make your challenge coin stand out as a premium, custom-crafted piece.
Challenge Coin Edge Options
Adding an edge to your coin makes a significant difference in it’s overall appearance. In general it gives the coin a much more clean, professional look. Some edges are free, but the ones that really make your coin stand out are created by a special machine that cuts the edge into the coin. This is why they cost a little extra. The cost of edges are still relatively cheap compared to some of our other upgrade options, so for those looking to vastly improve the look and feel of their coin without a significant up-charge, adding an edge to your custom challenge coin is the way to go!
3D Challenge Coins
Lone Star Challenge Coins offer a large array of customization options, but our most popular challenge coin upgrade option is hands down 3D! Over the last few years it has quickly become the most popular option because nothing else adds the same level of depth and character to your coin. Adding multilevel 3D relief to your challenge coin brings elements of your design to life as they literally pop off your coin!
Adding Color to 3D Reliefs
If you really want to take your custom challenge coin design to the next level, you can add color to the 3D portion using translucent enamel. If you’re not familiar with translucent enamel, it’s simply enamel that allows light to pass through it. As a result, it reveals all the intricate detailing on the metal surface below, and gives it a stained glass look. This is why it’s ideal for coloring challenge coins that have a texture or 3D relief.
UPGRADE BY ADDING SPECIALIZED COLOR EFFECTS
Adding translucent or glow enamel to your coin can create some exciting effects. We offer an array of colors for both, and depending on how you use them, you can create some seriously cool effects! For instance, adding translucent to a polished coin makes the color more vibrant, or adding glow enamel to a dark metal such as black nickel or black metal makes the colors pop!
Translucent Enamel
Translucent Enamel for Challenge Coins is a very versatile option. You can make several exciting effects, but to do so, it helps to know a few things—first, the plating matters. Translucent enamel on polished metals is more vibrant but takes on a deep, rich tone when applied to antique finishes. However, avoid black metal or nickel when using translucent enamel, as the dark color makes the colors very dark and hard to discern. One other thing to consider is the color of the metal. For instance, translucent coloring on a copper coin will take on a slight reddish hue.
Glow-in-the-Dark Enamel
Glow-in-the-Dark enamel is an upgrade option that can help create really cool effects. From glowing binary numbers denoting a cyber division to glowing fingerprints often seen on criminal investigative coins, it can make an ordinary challenge coin extraordinary. Like translucent colors, we have limited glow colors to choose from.
Customizing the Shape of Your Coin
Another fantastic way to make your custom challenge coin unique and exciting is by having it cut to shape. Although challenge coins are traditionally round, we can make your them in any shape imaginable. Cut to shape challenge coins have been growing in popularity and are a great way to highlight things that are near and dear to you such as state, mascot, unit logo, etc. So if you’d like yours to have a unique shape, just mention it to us in your quote inquiry and we’ll handle the rest!
You can incorporate a bottle opener to almost any challenge coin design imaginable. The one stipulation is that, for it to be functional and effective, it must be a minimum of 2.25”. One thing to also consider is that the cut out created to incorporate the bottle opener takes away from overall surface area of your coin. This means you’ll have less space to fit your design elements such as text, logos, insignias, etc. If you want to add a bottle opener to your design, just make sure to check the option when filling out the quote form and we’ll fit it into your challenge coins’ design!
We can add numbering on either the face of your challenge coin, or along the edge. Adding it to the edge is a good idea if you want it to be less noticeable, or if your design is a bit complex. There are various reasons people number their coins, but the most common is as a reminder the people awarded that they are of a select chosen few.
Custom Engraving
If you’re looking to add personalized text to a coin custom engraving is the way to go. Normally text is created by adding it to the mold and it is stamped into the coin. Long story short, you’ll need a mold for each separate coin if you want different wording on each of your coins, and molds aren’t cheap! This is why engraving is a much more cost effective way of adding a personal touch to your coin. Also, since we keep molds on file, you can engrave something like a date to save money on future mold costs. We can engrave anywhere on the metal surface of the coin including the edges!
Hard Enamel
Hard Enamel is an alternative to Soft Enamel, the typical coloring style used on challenge coins. Hard Enamel is often used on pins to give them a luxurious, jewelry-like finish. The main difference is that, unlike Soft Enamel, the colored recessed areas are layered with enamel until it becomes flush with the raised metal and then are plated and polished. It gives the coin’s surface a smooth feel and a more refined, elegant touch!
Epoxy Coating
Epoxy Coating is a clear epoxy resin added over the coin’s surface to produce a hard layer of plastic that helps protect the enamel from damage. There are some drawbacks, such as it can discolor over time.
SilkScreen
Silkscreen is mainly used to capture small details that would otherwise not be producible. It can also add text that varies from coin to coin so that you don’t have to create a new mold for each coin (which would be extremely expensive).
Offset Printed
Offset Printed coins are produced by printing an image onto an adhesive photo paper, inlaying it on the coin, and covering it with a protective layer of epoxy resin. They are great for pictures of loved ones or any time you want a realistic photo.
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