[center]<b>Military Challenge Coin</b><br><img border="0" src="http://www.stujoe.com/images/exo/bmetcc.jpg" width="575" height="288"><br><b>Image from The Stujoe Collection</b><br><br>[/center] This is an example of a Military Challenge Coin. It is not a coin but rather a medal. However, 'medal' has a different meaning in the military so they are mostly known as 'coins'.
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The general idea behind military challenge coins is that you carry them with you all the time. If someone takes theirs out, making a 'challenge', and you can produce your coin, all is good (or under some rules they buy you a drink). However, if you can't produce your coin when challenged, you buy the person who challenged you a drink.
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In today's' military, they are just as much given out for awards and recognition, sold for fundraisers and even traded by individuals who collect them. I have however, used them for their intended purpose in the past. :-)
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I have heard conflicting stories of their origin but <a href="http://dkmilitary.tripod.com/dampkmilitarycollectibles/id21.html" target="_blank">this one</a> is the one I have most frequently see.<br><br>For military fund raisers, they are typically sold to personel for about $5. They seem to go for $5-$10 in the secondary market (the average that I see).

Out of all the MC's I've seen, that's probably my favorite design.

Hello, I see this original post was made from Mortaritaville about the same time I was in the area. Anyway, I thought I would just chime in with a link to my website, since it is on topic. Not many coin communities talk about our favorite type of coin. It would be nice to get this thread going.

<a href="http://ChallengeCoinAssociation.org">Challenge Coin Association</A>

In one of the last Coin News magazine's (UK) it mentioned that Bill Clinton was an avid collector of these. He use'd to pick one up at every military base etc... he visited. So he must have a few.

Yes, I once saw a photo of him with his display case behind him. He even had his own Presidential Coin that he handed out to people. It can be found on eBay from time to time. I believe one of the Challenge Coin Association members has one.

Jesse
http://ChallengeCoinAssociation.org

About 6 weeks ago I was at a National Guard school in Little Rock. My family came and visited, so in the interest of being tourists, we visited the Clinton Library. His Challenge Coin display is in his Oval Office exhibit. My wife snapped a picture of it and got lectured by security because of the flash. All that, and the photo didn't turn out.

Jesse
http://ChallengeCoinAssociation.org