They received a 1.5″ brass challenge coin with the company’s famous green and yellow color affixed to the coin. The coin shows the heritage showing the established date of the doors being opened since 1795 and the coin boasts the wonderful Prang logo. A great and unique coin that will obviously make it’s value increase because it’s not only the first but from a strong and well known American company. The producer U.S. Challenge Coins is the choice for most companies like Dixon because of the quality and the price. We have seen this company jettison into the top ranks of respected coin makers and we expect to see great things from them as time goes.

This post is about Dixon, but more so of the practicality of civilian companies increasingly looking for ways to increase morale and new ways to celebrate success. The challenge coin is a natural way to secure both goals. Getting a coin is special to many once they understand the importance and the history behind it. We see a very bright future in the expansion and use for such coins in the way management in the private sector begins to reward their employees.

There are many people that will tell you a coins worth, and you will even find scales and grading guides throughout the net. Coins can range from $.50-$1,000 and for new collector’s this can be the hardest thing to figure out. One great scale to see where some of your coins is the Value Minted Scale. You may find yourself cruising eBay or other sites looking for the inexpensive coins and building a vast coin collection. However, there will come a time where you will yearn for more and want to build a true highly valued collection. Most new collector’s don’t really know the difference between a stock (highly-minted coin), replicated coin, vintage coin, or a low minted challenge coin.

About 80% of eBay coins will be your lower class coins that are great for newer collectors and even seasoned collector’s will pick some of the nicer ones up for their collection. Eventually you will rise above and start looking for coins that are rarer and only have 100 made in the world. You will start looking for older coins that are hard to get. There will be a new world opened up for you. Only a few sites and only about 1-2 sellers on eBay will feed you with special coins that truly enhance the collection though. If you want vintage coins or coins that are rare and many collector’s won’t have then look up “challengecoincollecting” on eBay. We trust this seller when it comes to true authentic and vintage coins. We have not found another seller that brings this kind of value to the hobby in this specific section.

When you may not be interested in an older coin, you will want to find the limited runs. U.S. Challenge Coins is the only company currently that specializes in high end, limited run coins. These coins like the vintage ones are worth a lot of money because most runs are never above 100 units and each coin is extremely unique. As a more experienced collector there are the two areas that will prove to hold the most value and give you many coins that most collectors will not have.

One benefit that the low minted coins will give you in 30-50 years is not only are they unique but in the future they will be ultra rare as the coins that were minted get lost or destroyed. These will become the coins most collector’s will keep in the family and cherish. The vintage coins you can currently pick up will be worth even more if you can protect them and never lose them. Many sites today will not talk about the graduated collector and where to buy because they don’t want to lose the audience in the stock coins. Stock coins are a dime a dozen and truly add very little value in any collection because almost any collector can pick them up over and over.

Is this the end all, be all? No but this is a great start in talking about higher end coins that most collector’s will never have in their displays. Educating yourself in the hobby is the key to success and finding those who are leaders will and should guide any collector with great information and assistance.

The member swimbass (also known as Todd) called up and said he was in the area and over he came to enjoy a true day of coins. Todd even took some coins away with him free of charge. That should boost his collection worth a few hundred dollars. Anyways, a rack of ribs later we said good bye and maybe he will come back next weekend where we can design some more great coins.

This post isn’t truly about U.S. Challenge Coins or the fact we had a member over. This is an example of what the hobby lacks or at least from a public point of view. For the general consensus collector’s are seclusive and do not socialize through the hobby or at least a very passive group. Some do come out and play sort to speak. One day this hobby will come alive when many collector’s decide they want more than just a stand in their house that only them and their family look at night after night. Meeting people socially is not only healthy but really improves the point in collecting. I have met so many great people because of coins.

The next time you are in a forum or talking with someone about coins think about going the extra mile. Find other collector’s you can trade with, talk with, write contributions on sites and forums, or go and visit someone you met through coins. You wouldn’t believe the positive gain you will receive from putting your self out there. Well just 2 cents for the hobby, and to Todd…great coins, and great ribs!

Once in a while new ideas are released on the market that stir new inovations and ideas in a hobby. In 2008 another one of those happened early on in the year. A new Special Forces coin was released through U.S. Challenge Coins .com in Febuary 2008. This tri-plated coin shows how black nickel, high polish nickel, and gold plating can bring beauty unmatched by other coins into one package. This 2″ challenge coin reflects so many things to include a flashes from 10 of the Special Forces Groups, the badges they wear and some of the best detail work on a coin. This coin will be a sure fire hit into an award in 2008.

This coin is originally developed between Adam and Todd from USCC as a combined effort. Sometimes designing in a team yields even greater results. There is and will only be 100 of these in the world and any collector having this in their collection will surely raise the value a good degree. Finding Ultra Rare coins like this can be very exciting and something you keep forever. Challenge coins, though they don’t hold currency value, hold a different value through design and limited minting. As an advanced collector you will come to find coins in this category are special and separate the beginners from the true collector that has been around the block. At the time of writing this article there are 99 left for collectors to pick up.

One of the best site for challenge coins that was introduce in 2007 was Challenge Coin Trading. This site still remains one of the hidden treasures on the net for the hobby. Without very much exposure it sits awaiting a flood of collector’s that want to hit it big without having to spend major cash to build their collections. This site is one of the biggest in features and functionality anyone has built to date. If you’re looking to get into something that will be making headlines over the next year then you need to head on over and sign up. We strongly encourage any collector to get into this site and start exploring the possibilities.

Can you imagine getting coins for free through open trades? You can post your wanted ads, talk openly in the forum without restrictions, or start a group of your own. You have tons of ways to meet other collectors, share your pictures, and post your trading ads! On top of all the huge bonuses you get, you will be provided a ton of great information from the site as it’s a welcome wagon full of great ideas and pointers. The Society gives this site a 9 out of 10 for being truly ground breaking with a giant focus on collector’s and for once not sales. The developers of U.S. Challenge Coins has helped support the birth of the site so you have an outstanding ground of professionals to develop this site!

As you grow in the hobby and start exploring the benefits of searching websites that offer more than what you can find at an auction site you will want to bookmark this one. Stop buying coins and learn how to find the better ones worth more buy connecting with other collector’s just like you. You will be very happy you checked this one out!

You can log in and see what is new each day for challenge coins (or really anything). This will makes everything easier to find those special news releases or articles that you might be interested in. This isn’t just for the competition to track their opponent’s work. No this is also for you the hobby enthusiast in getting opinions NOW! We highly encourage our readers to use this tool to find our new articles across the net. No one writes more than us on a whole basis and we try to bring tons of great stuff to your eyes. Now you don’t even have to hunt for us.

If you are checking us through this tool as competition then we say thanks to care enough to think of us like that!

1. Drop shippers are one of the most common avenue for sellers. This allows them to take a cut from the manufacturer and not have to hold the actual coin. You will see this in extended shipping times or the same coins from multiple sellers. If you have bought this type of coin you have received something more than likely less valuable since it would be mass produced 9 out of 10 times. You will sell coins if you choose this route but you will be splitting serious profit between the actual maker and eBay.
2. Another trick of the trade is buying lots either at great prices or in lots slotted in the wrong categories. Sellers that get these deals generally do really good on reselling them. People that retire, separate, or just don’t want to collect anymore just want to ditch the coins. This is a perfect opportunity to rack up on cheap coins that sell. Most of your big time power sellers choose this route to add to their stock and you can also. Make sure you are hunting through the odd categories someone might think of listing coins in.
3. Another rare way to get started is financing your own coins to sell. This by far is the most lucrative if you pick the right coins to make. You get full profit and new coins on the market that no one else has brings mega sales the first few times out. This excites buyers and enhancing the collections of many. This is in presumption you can actually make a great coin. There have been many times sellers often have the wrong company make them, or just suck on design. Usually you will see the remains of a coin gone wrong as masses of them are packed in lots on eBay.
4. Trading challenge coins with other wholesalers or dealers is a nice way to go. However you are trading for their duplicates which means you now become their competition. This is not a smart way to go usually, however, you will find some sales through this. Sellers love to trade off their dead coins that don’t sell. This is one area you could easily get screwed.

So we looked at just 4 ways sellers gain the coins they sell. Of course there are others but we will just focus on those right now. Let’s look at coins that bring good money:

1. Coins attached to valuable units like aviation, artillery, K-9, EOD, Special Forces, and highly needed war time units go for big bucks. If you get you hands on this group of coins you will be doing yourself well. Stay away from the weaker ones unless you need some loss leaders to get people into your store.
2. Custom coins bring in huge dollars as we mentioned above…but be careful.
3. Odd shaped coins are a winner almost every time. Find these and maximize on this type as much as you can. Buyers love unique coins. Round coins are the norm and some people want to break away from that to enhance their racks.
4. High military brass or civilian equals are huge money. Never pass these up if you can authenticate them. Some people just love these!

We gave you 4 more examples on great selling types of coins. You can brainstorm and research these at your will. We had good luck through the tests of time in these areas and you can always check out what your soon to be competition is selling. Seeing we gave you the pros, let’s give you some things to stay away from:

1. Stay away from Korean duplicates. We started on these and have since left this scene shortly after saintcross (eBay seller, now changed usernames) started undercutting us. These are not authorized in many cases or they are cheap and everyone has them. You can buy direct from many places on an average of $3.50 a coin including shipping. If you truly desire this just email us and I will give you the suppliers so you can directly compete with the other Korean coin sellers.
2. You might want to pass on the drop shipping places. Generally most of their designs are not great although the minting might make up for it. You will find they are churning out the same coin for your competition and who wants to be the same as everyone else. You need something to standout on. Your shipping will suffer if you don’t keep the product on hand and God forbid they run out of stock and you already sold the coin. In our eyes, there is money there, but not enough in a long term plan.
3. Don’t peddle used coins. You will get dinged and probably lose buyers quickly. The coins your sell should be mint or close to. You will find your way out of the game just as fast as you came in.

We didn’t give you 4 that time but we think you can brainstorm. Some of the other tips we can give are to be prepared to fork over a nice chunk of profit to the USPS, eBay, Paypal, your supplier. You will keep a small chunk but that depends on your tax bracket. Yes, you will actually have to file the income if you are even moderately successful. Selling on eBay has become tougher these days. If you only sell challenge coins it will hurt a little more. Try to spread your wings and list other products if you can. This will guide people to your store and might create extra sales.

This is our basic tour on what to be looking for. Most people never become big in this area because of the saturation a few have in the market. Don’t be discouraged, just go in with reasonable expectations. Part 2 will be out soon enough as we give tips to increase your selling.

We have found that most groups of challenge coin collectors are purely marketing for companies of coins. This is hobby wide it seems. It’s funny when you look through the last few years and see a huge collaboration and mega amounts of information coming out in 2006. People were coming out talking about coins. In 2007 it was starting to fall apart as some seen great riches in the hobby and less information has come to life. Major companies have come to life in the wake of quiteness which is great but we seem to be losing the collector base as a hobby and now it has become a store base.

2008 yields great hope of great coins, great information and resources. We did a story on eBay and losing the niche. They increased the final value fees of challenge coins because of the price range but sellers are holding on. The price increase has not shaken this niche in the least. You can buy the same coins at the same price of last year. This is great news for collectors. I think in all the changing we seen the active hobby leaders split into groups. There is collaboration in smaller pacts than larger groups. This may very well be huge in creating new ideas faster because you don’t have a hold on just one group anymore.

We don’t really notice any negative trends going on. We notice changes but not for the worse. We see two distinct groups. We see the eBay sellers/hobbyist, and you have the regular web hobbyist and sellers. Who will win? neither, it’s a combined effort in the long run. We do see some trends though that will bring us into 2009. Perhaps we are right, or perhaps we are wrong as it’s anyones guess.

We see the eBay sector to stagnate with the same coins over and over again from the same sellers maybe with different names pulling what they can from hobbyist looking for the easy buy. We don’t see huge collaborations in this section though. It’s to controlled and many will be comfortable to stay with what they know. Our position on the off-eBay sector will be the moving one. We see huge collaborations among many collectors and companies alike. I think as many mature in the hobby they will reach for better coins that not everyone can buy. People will be yearning for more as eBay secludes itself from everything else.

One of the biggest things 2009 may bring in is the partnership of U.S. Challenge Coins with many other companies to bring a higher level of product and services along with information to the internet. As a new site in 2007 they have already been booming to get into some of the heavy weight positions. Partnering with U.S. companies to include JW Enameling and The Guardrail Company and many more they will achieve a very efficient avenue for collector’s. This is just one website of many out there but we believe this one to be a true website with huge potential.

We are seeing more emphasis on quality coins that are unique in the hobby. Competition is healthy but there is less competition every day as once competing websites find harmony in working together for the greater good. This is something eBay sellers have yet to figure out. This is an assumption as nothing has shown otherwise. At this point it’s all in the air but we wanted to put thoughts in the air for people to look at and come to their own conclusions. What do you think 2009 will bring? Where is the hobby headed?

2008 posses many new changes from the inability of sellers giving honest feedback through neutral and negative feedback, lowered insertion fee but raised final value fees, and tighter Paypal restrictions on a 21 day hold of funds for certain transactions. When it comes to $10 or less eBay is not interested in helping out the little guy that might want to sell a pin or a military patch. We will use this niche market as an example of the overall scheme since this is what we know from our angle. We did a comparison on our forum not to long ago and we broke information down as:

100 listings on eBay using 2007 rates

100 listings like the attached screen shot: $85.00 upfront
This is all I pay if I don’t sell anything…

If I sell:

100: $85.00 upfront
25% sold: $13.00 total final value fees
Paypal Fees: $16.25
Shipping: $1.48 FC 2oz through paypal: $37
Federal Tax: 15%-28% (we will leave this out for now)
Cost of Coin Avg: $3 (assuming you sell a decent coin): $75

Total Cost: $226.25

25% Coins sold at $9.99: $299.75
Shipping you Charge: $2.00 (because this is the right cost any seller should charge according to eBay): $50

Your Profit: $73.50

You can see by the above example how some sellers are starting to say why when they know there is such a massive change coming. In the event of the major changes many new alternative auction sites are popping up everywhere with better deals, better community, and more options. Challenge Coin Auctions .com is no different in the grand scheme of things. Offering a feeless atmosphere and support in this niche has become a #1 concern that sellers are truly taking to heart.

Sellers and buyers will benefit from new grounds not only in military collectibles but in many other areas too. The kings and queens of the eBay flea market sales will be driven out as the cost does not outweigh the benefit in 2008 and beyond.

1. Stocking Stock

Most sellers try buying lots from distributors because it can be a cheap way to get started. This will almost guarantee failure since everyone has already done this and the market already has too much of the same coin. You need a real separation between you and everyone else drop shipping from the same place. I would go on a limb and say 10% of those that use this method only survive enough to make a buck. Get past this and become someone special.

2. Stocking Your Stock

Start designing and making your own designs that are unique but good. If you suck at making ideas happen, then find someone that can. If you can make 10 unique coins a year you will find a bigger success as long as you make coins people would want to add to their collection. I personally work with several people that take this road and yes it is slower but I can guarantee 90% of the ones that take this route will be someone.

3. Stocking Everything

The combination of both the ideas given can really help spread you out and make you look a little more serious. Focus 20% on general stock and undercut everyone you can, then take all profits (80%) and build a private line of coins. This is a great path for any new seller that wants to be around for a while. If you can’t create your own thing then you will always work for someone that can…don’t be that guy.

Now that we have looked at 3 ways to consider your stock let’s look at other factors that separate you from the rest of the sellers. The majority of sellers are old, boring, and never provide help because they are afraid of giving their business to you. This means they know they don’t have anything special. The trick is to do something they won’t do…provide information! That’s right. When you write articles, blogs, guides, or anything else people will listen and eventually if you are on point you will gain the respect.

I can’t even tell you how many times people have wanted to do business with me because of this reason. More people want more advice from me on these subjects alone that I should give up selling and making coins and start selling advice on it instead. I have setup sellers before and I still continue too. These people are important to the hobby but when they don’t give back it hurts everyone involved. This is a hobby in desperate need of voices to talk about it.

Author Thoughts are from Adam Mulholland, CEO of U.S. Challenge Coins .com 1-877-700-7022