That’s a good question, thank you for asking Jerry.
The traditional purpose of a challenge coin is to recognize someone doing something right or good or correctly right then and there. Getting a coin is like getting an award but without all the paperwork that goes along with it.
Other leaders may give coins out as people come into their command, and then of course it’s the whole ‘carry it at all times’. If you’re challenged (by someone else carrying their challenge coin) and you don’t have yours you owe the person challenging a drink of some sort.
It’s generally thought that the fancier the coin the less important the entity handing out the coin. And the more often you’ll be challenged.
I can't recall it well enough to share but maybe someone here will remember -
Being a kid in the 80's meant magazines and junk mail showing up daily. About once a year, something would show up at the house (again, not sure if it was junk mail or what) that had a gold coin that was about 2" wide. As a kid, it was used as "money" when playing around the house. As we got older and became teens, most of the play money went away, but we always kept these junk coins for coin flips.
As always, a memory I wouldn't have remembered if it weren't for these random conversations on IC! (I just wish I could remember what the coin was from so I could "see" it again online)
Google wasn't helping, it kept giving me coin collector magazine results but I decided to use Ai and it immediately found it. It was Readers Digest! ANd as soon as I saw it I remembreed why we used it for coin flips in our teens - It was a double-sided coin! I'm guessing I always called tails.
Now that I found it I think I might know where the original is. But just in case I'm mistaken, I'm buying this one up to make sure. I'll start flipping the coin for household chores. My wife and grown children probably won't appreciate it the same as I did.
I’m surprised there’s been no mention of POGs. I had a few of those and some of them were fairly solidly built.
I wish I had some of them still.
I've heard of challenge coins, but don't really know how they work. What's the protocol for handing them out?
That’s a good question, thank you for asking Jerry.
The traditional purpose of a challenge coin is to recognize someone doing something right or good or correctly right then and there. Getting a coin is like getting an award but without all the paperwork that goes along with it.
Other leaders may give coins out as people come into their command, and then of course it’s the whole ‘carry it at all times’. If you’re challenged (by someone else carrying their challenge coin) and you don’t have yours you owe the person challenging a drink of some sort.
It’s generally thought that the fancier the coin the less important the entity handing out the coin. And the more often you’ll be challenged.
Thank you.
As a kid playing stick & whiffleball, we used the bat to determine which team bats first.
In Ellwood, we would toss the bat to the other captain and alternate fist over fist until someone could place their thumb on the knob or pummel.
The kids from Koppel had a strategy to slip in fingers instead of a fist to put the odds in their favor on their next hand placement.
I loved this article!!! I never really thought about the coin toss - from the coin's point of view. Thanks for sharing.... and I pick tails!
Another coin flip movie is "No Country for Old Men," in which the hit man -- Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh -- decides life or death with a coin flip.
Don’t put that quarter in your pocket where it will get mixed up with the other coins and become just a coin, which it is
Innumismaticy - the inability to identify the subject or denomination of a coin, such as Dwight Eisenhower (coining a new term)
Ah, like illiteracy and innumeracy -- nicely done!
I can't recall it well enough to share but maybe someone here will remember -
Being a kid in the 80's meant magazines and junk mail showing up daily. About once a year, something would show up at the house (again, not sure if it was junk mail or what) that had a gold coin that was about 2" wide. As a kid, it was used as "money" when playing around the house. As we got older and became teens, most of the play money went away, but we always kept these junk coins for coin flips.
As always, a memory I wouldn't have remembered if it weren't for these random conversations on IC! (I just wish I could remember what the coin was from so I could "see" it again online)
Google wasn't helping, it kept giving me coin collector magazine results but I decided to use Ai and it immediately found it. It was Readers Digest! ANd as soon as I saw it I remembreed why we used it for coin flips in our teens - It was a double-sided coin! I'm guessing I always called tails.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/377223038968?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item&srsltid=AfmBOoqHJ5fywHN4Kg0YlTdARbZH40LN4h9m61yNyE5xDo9lxUD2tXdOiTE
Now that you've found it, are you going to buy it from that eBay seller, for nostalgia's sake?
Yep, I think he bought it... or maybe you did???? ; ) It's sold.
Now that I found it I think I might know where the original is. But just in case I'm mistaken, I'm buying this one up to make sure. I'll start flipping the coin for household chores. My wife and grown children probably won't appreciate it the same as I did.