The design, stamping, cutting, removing of sharp angles and cuts, polishing and packaging follows a certain degree of manufacturing protocols and a series of steps aimed at producing the finest engraved coins but also takes on one of an art form.
The process of minting a challenge coins begins with design. The questions often encountered are the shape, size and what is requested for the front and back and whether sequentially numbering or some other sort of information like a custom text, anniversary date, military unit, ship or other important information one would want etched into their coins. The process of taking a custom design and having it minted begins with the design and having the right company that knows and understands how design can translate into a metallic medallion is an important one. Not all designs can become coins regardless of the desire to produce one. The right elements of art and metallic tool and die making must come together to make it happen.
The minting process to make a US quarter is exactly the same as the design used to create the US Navy Popeye Challenge coin with Vision-Strike-Wear.Com. The US Mint utilizes for hundreds of years the same technology that is used by Vision-Strike-Wear.Com coins when it comes to producing the finest in military collectible challenge coins.
Design
Taking a picture and then replicating it onto a large format clay mold is the next step is designing a tool used to stamp your coins.
The die
Once the design is reviewed and approved the die is next to be produced. Using the large clay mold the details from the large mold are then etched into a smaller piece of steel used for stamping out the coins. The above image illustrates how the mold is etched preparing it for stamping.
The tool once complete is tempered and heated to a rockwellian steel hardness allowing to keep stamping for hundreds and thousands of coin stamps. When customers ask why a die or mold costs what it does they fully understand the costs associated with it when they see what the finished product is. A great military design can be put on hold when the die is not made to the specifications or level of details expected.
Coin Production
The design is made, the mold and tooling completed now its time to stamp out the coins.
Separating Coin Blanks
After the coin blanks are separated, added to the presses and then punched out they are transferred to the paint area where workers add enamel paint by hand to the various levels and sides of the military coins. This is a slow and very intricate task and is also a large reason for the longer wait times during the coin manufacturing process.
Inspection
With the coins now minted a sample is taken inspecting the coins for any flaws but also looking for correctness. If an issue is discovered the coins might be redone and the entire process gone through again to ensure the quality of the finished product is maintained.
Packaging
Military coins upon their completion are then sent to the packaging area where they are often added to a clear poly bag for protection and presentation.
It has been in the gameplan for a long time and that is for the long awaited custom military designs of Vision-Strike-Wear.Com to enter into the military design marketplace as Vision Strike Coins. The long awaited and razor sharp military challenge coins from Vision Strike Coins is coming!
The military coin companies of the past will now have a new brother custom challenge company to share the industry with: Vision Strike Coins.
For over 7 plus years the design team of Vision-Strike-Wear.Com long known for the highly detailed military shirt designs has begun converting its custom military apparel designs into coins. All US military branches will come to experience the fine detail and raw power of originality in terms of military art. With over 2600 plus military designs in their arsenal, and more being designed everyday, Vision Strike Coins will be bringing its designs to bear and setting its focus on the military branches, their units, commands, ships, squadrons and more with the kind of quality and originality that made Vision-Strike-Wear.Com a household name in the military shirt industry.
Now that Vulcans hammer has struck with Vision Strike Coin forged precision their quality of minted coins will reach new zeniths and set new standards within the military challenge coin industry. The bar has clearly been raised.
Design ~ All military branches with coin designs that speak to their backgrounds, heritage, pride and accomplishments will be minted at the highest level. A challenge coin is about the unit, who they are, what they have done and its history. In the past the coin and its unit logo or crest made the difference between life and death. When challenged you needed to be able to prove what side of the fight you were on. Without this the fate of a soldier hung in the balance. The challenge today may represent something very different but its history is preserved to this day.
It is the goal of Vision Strike Coins to produce designs of the highest caliber.
Originality ~ Original art delivered all the time. Vision Strike Coins will not settle for anything less than the best. They will not copy, in part or whole the works of others, will not lower their standards and they will not produce a coin that was not originally created by them on behalf of their customers. Creativity and originality is at the forefront of their services. Creativity originality and dedication to providing the finest art for your coins is what Vision Strike Coins is all about.
Integrity ~ Vision Strike Coins will not lower its standards and will not compete without the highest level of integrity in the marketplace. They will not copy the works of others and will stand apart because of their decision to provide truth in coins. This means they will make what they quote, design original art and maintain the highest level of service and design originality. They know they are not the only coin company in town but they will strive to best they can be for their customers. Integrity also means quoting something once (like a mold or die) and not wrap it into a quote or hide it where customers unknowingly purchase that same mold or die over and over and over again with each repeat order they make. Being open and upfront with our customers will set us apart and keep the future generations of coin orders competitively priced and not have hidden fees unfairly charged to its customers a second time.
How did it all begin and why? ~ An important question and one that deserves an answer. At the core of Vision Strike Coins is its belief that coins should be designed by artists and done in such a way that they are new and do not copy or use any part of a coin that was created previously. After over 7 years of custom designs for apparel for all branchees of the United States military it was discovered on too many occassions to mention that their artwork was being copied by coin companies. These coin companies were making no attempt to change, alter or even ask for the permission for the use of our artwork. It was jsut anotehr day for them. Let’s not hire someone to create original artwork. Lets copy them and see if we can get away with it. We are sure that over the years hundreds of designs have been copied. We find them almost daily.
So taking the bull by the horns we decided that our designs, the ones we created, have copyrighted and made on behalf of our clients needed to be made into coins with the highest degree of quality and coin craftsmanship. The customers deserved it. No more copycat knockoffs but true originally created custom artwork that we designed and made. So that being said Vision Strike Coins came into being and will work towards making the coin industry put their customers first with original art.
The Chief’s Coin – Anchored~
One look around the internet and it wasn’t hard to find rip offs of the original artwork created for the United States Navy Chiefs bearting the dedicated look of the goat with khaki uniform and cover. We saw twisted versions of this design to be sure so again wanting to take make a coin, based on our original artwork, the metallic wheels of coin making went into high gear in the creation of the United States Navy Chief Coin aka Anchored!
2 inches of brass, gold and silver highlights and placards depicting the role the US Navy Chiefs have had since their birth on April 1st, 1893.
Popeye ~
Who doesn’t like Popeye? I know I do. Shortly after entering into the military coin market Vision Strike Coins was tapped on the shoulder and asked to participate in licensing with their offices in New York and boy did we get excited! To be designing cool Popeye coins made us rush headlong into the design process and designs were put together and then approved and licensed by King Features Syndicate followed by the production of our first ever Popeye coin.
The American Eagle Army Coin ~
Taking our military mascot design concepts even further a coin design was rendered for our Army men and women to be collected for their personal use or given as a gift to a fellow Army veteran or friend.
The US Navy Jolly Roger Coin ~ The Original
An original design that first started with a t-shirt and one that essentially launched a thousand ships. See on the backs of both activey duty and retired US Navy personnel the Jolly Roger has always been a favorite design of Vision-Strike-Wear.Com and now Vision Strike Coins. Too many imposters have shown up over the years it was time to take back our design and produce it inthe manner it deserved. We glad we did. With thousands having been sold in a matter of weeks this popular USN coin went tot he top of the list becoming the most purchased design so far with Vision Strike Coins. We are excited for the future and the development of more coins that will capture the interests of our US Navy community.
