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Editor's Notes

• #2: My name is Jen Burger, and I have worked for Catania Medallic Specialty since September of 2004. I began as a sales representative, and am currently the assistant to the owner of the company. I oversee our marketing campaigns as well as help train and assist our sales department. I had the honor of being nominated as the ARA’s 2009-2010 Customer Service Representative of the Year. Although I didn’t win a personal award, Catania won the ARA’s Supplier of the Year Award which was just as rewarding. From experience I know that it can seem overwhelming to have to quote custom medals or coins. However, by learning the difference between a few different options, it can become a very easy product to quote and sell.
• #3: Before you learn how to sell military coins, it’s helpful to know a bit of their history. During World War I, American volunteers from all parts of the country filled the newly formed flying squadrons. In one squadron, a wealthy lieutenant ordered medallions struck in solid bronze and presented them to his unit. One young pilot placed the medallion in a small leather pouch that he wore about his neck. Shortly after acquiring the medallion, the pilot’s aircraft was severely damaged, and he was forced to land behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured by a German patrol. The Germans took all of his personal identification except for the small leather pouch around his neck. He was taken to a small French town, and taking advantage of a bombardment that night, he escaped. However, he was without personal identification. Eventually, he stumbled onto a French outpost. Not recognizing the young pilot's American accent, the French thought him to be a saboteur and made ready to execute him. He had no identification to prove his allegiance, but he did have his leather pouch containing the medallion. He showed the medallion to his would-be executioners and one of his French captors recognized the squadron insignia on the medallion. They delayed his execution long enough for him to confirm his identity. Back at his squadron, it became tradition to ensure that all members carried their medallion or coin at all times. This was accomplished through challenge in the following manner - a challenger would ask to see the medallion. If the challenged could not produce a medallion, they were required to buy a drink of choice for the member who challenged them. If the challenged member produced a medallion, then the challenging member was required to pay for the drink. This tradition continued on throughout the war and for many years after the war while surviving members of the squadron were still alive. We proudly continue this tradition today with the challenge coin.
• #4: Quoting coins can seem complex if you don’t know what to ask your customer or how to identify the different options that are available. In this presentation, I’ll show you how to take all of the options, or as I like to call them, ingredients, to build the recipe for your coin. Now my boss thinks I’m crazy for calling it a recipe, but I have found it to be helpful. Think about it, in a recipe you take all of the necessary ingredients, measure them out, and combine for one dish. It’s the same thing with a coin quote. You take all of the necessary options, determine if one or both sides need that option, and then you combine all of the pricing for each option for a quote. It’s really that easy! ‘ But, oh no,’ you say, ‘I don’t know the first thing about what I need to ask a customer when they want a coin. There are too many options, and it is far too confusing.’ Wrong! Once you break it down into sections it’s easier than you think. Incidentally, everything in this presentation, except diamond cut borders and milled edges, can be applied to quoting lapel pins, too. I know that many of you are also afraid of pins, but that, too, ends today!!
• #5: Quoting can be broken down into three main categories: Plating, Color Fill/Print, and Extras. Plating will be such things as antique, bright, 2-tone, or black nickel. Color fill is generally either imitation hard enamel (sometimes called semi cloisonné) or soft enamel. Coins need to be printed when the art is complex, contains gradient images, or when exact logo reproduction is required. Lastly, extra items that can be added to enhance the appearance of the coin are diamond cut borders, consecutive numbering, 3D tooling, or milled edges just to name a few. We will cover each of these options in depth during this presentation.
• #6: In this section we will cover the different types of plating that are available on our products as well as the differences between them. On die struck items, plating options are brass, nickel, and copper. Those can then be broken down into all bright, bright with sandblast, or antique. We also offer 2-tone (combinations of brass and nickel) and black nickel plating as well.
• #7: The first step in quoting a coin or a medallion is to determine the type of plating that your customer wants.
• #8: Our coins are standard with all bright raised and all bright recessed areas. We do not recommend an all bright piece because it is very hard to read with no contrast between the raised and the recessed areas.
• #10: If your customer wants a bright coin, we recommend that you add a sandblasted or textured background to the recessed metal. The texture in the background allows the raised polished areas to be easily read since both the raised and recessed areas are not all bright and shiny.
• #11: Another plating option is to antique the item. Antique plating add a little bit of a darker hue to the recessed areas of the coin making it very easy to read.
• #12: Sometimes your customers art will have a lot of black outlines, art, or text in it. In cases like that, we can plate the item in black nickel. The upside of black nickel plating is that small detail lines and text can remain black instead of being changed to the color of the raised metal – usually brass, nickel, or copper. In the example above, our customer wanted FDNY to be in black as well as the cracks and the outline of all of the red text. Had we plated the metal brass, all of those items would have been bright gold. They were too small to color fill in black as the pin was only 1” x 1”.
• #13: Two-tone plating is also available and is offered in combinations of bright nickel/bright brass, bright nickel/antique brass, and antique nickel/bright brass. Two-tone plating - both silver and gold plating in one coin - emphasize design details.
• #14: Now that you have determined the plating you want, let’s talk about a bit about color fill. One die struck products, each color must be separated by a raised metal border. These borders separate and contain the different enamel colors in the coin. Each coin starts out as a struck piece of metal with raised and recessed areas as shown in the photo on the left. Once the piece is struck, color fill is added to the recessed areas of the coin. With this process, small details can be lost. For example, notice that the inside of the letter A’s in the word, Catania, are not white, they are raised gold metal. The area was too small to fit another border inside of it to separate the blue paint from the white paint.
• #15: Now that you know how we color fill, you’ll need to learn the difference between soft enamel and imitation hard enamel (sometimes called semi cloisonné) color fill. This can seem like a confusing task, but once you learn the difference between the two it’s really quite simple.
• #16: The sample on the left is color-filled with imitation hard enamel which is an epoxy color. The epoxy is similar to the clear coating found on some coins to protect the enamel from scratches. While it is very strong, durable, and scratch-resistant, you could damage it if you really tried. If you were to run a sharp object over the enamel it would scratch, but normal wear and tear doesn’t typically harm it. When you look at an item that has an imitation hard enamel color fill, you will notice the enamel sits flush with the raised metal borders that are used to hold and separate each color. The surface of the coin feels almost completely smooth, although you may be able to slightly feel the raised metal borders with your fingertip or nail. The sample on the right is color-filled with soft enamel color which is different from IMHE in that the enamel used is very thin, and instead of sitting flush with the raised metal borders used to hold and separate the colors, the paint sinks to the surface of the item. When you look at a SE color fill, you can very clearly see that the paint is lower than the raised metal borders. In a photo of a SE coin, there almost appears to be a faint outline near each raised metal border. This is where the paint dips to the surface of the coin. You can also feel very pronounced bumps and ridges between the color fill and raised metal borders with your fingertip or nail. The exception is if the piece is covered with a clear epoxy dome which protects the soft enamel from scratches. In that case, the coin will feel completely smooth and flat. An epoxy dome also usually covers the whole piece, including the raised metal area, making the whole piece smooth. Whereas, on a IMHE coin, you will be able to feel any raised or recessed areas in the non-colored filled areas of the coin. You can usually see a glare from the dome when you look at it in the light as well.
• #17: There are times when having each color separated by a raised metal border is not feasible due to art requirements or size limitations. In these types of instances, printed art is used to stay true to the design.
• #18: Let’s take a few moments to discuss the differences between a printed coin and a die struck one with color fill.
• #20: Now to the finishing touches that really make your coin stand out, and add to the perceived value of it. In this section we’ll cover additional options that can be added to your coin such as (read list above).
• #21: After the coin is finished being made, a diamond cut border can be add to the piece using a special tool as shown.
• #23: There are nine standard decorative cuts that can be made to enhance the appearance of your coin. The base metal that we use is brass, which is gold in color, so a diamond cut reveals the gold base metal when cut. If you had an antique brass coin, the diamond cut would reveal the bright brass of the base metal. If you had a bright or antique nickel (silver-tone) coin, the cut would reveal bright brass. (top left)
• #24: The exception to this rule is if we cut the border BEFORE we plate the coin instead of after. This enables you to have bright or antique silver plating and diamond cut instead of the two-tone look.
• #25: Perhaps you noticed that United States dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and silver dollars have ridges, or grooves, around their edges. They were not put there for decoration, but had a very important purpose at one time in history. During our country’s earlier years, all coins were made of gold or silver, and did not have ridges. Each coin’s value was based on the amount of gold or silver in it. For example, a $10 gold piece contained ten dollars worth of gold, and silver dimes contained ten cents worth of silver. But some dishonest people sought to make an illegal profit from these coins. They filed off the edges and sold them for their value in gold or silver. The smaller-sized coin often went unnoticed, but this dishonest practice decreased the value of the original gold or silver coin. To prevent this, the government began milling, or grooving, the edges so a coin could easily be identified if it was trimmed. Coins today are no longer made of pure gold or silver, but the milled edges remain because people are accustomed to seeing them that way. As a result, milled edges are now considered decorative and add to the appeal and uniqueness of a challenge coin.
• #26: Another thing that you will see a lot of on challenge coins is 3D tooling. Both 2D and 3D art have raised and recessed areas, but on a 3D coin, some of the raised areas will be curved, rounded, or sculpted, whereas on a 2D coin all of the raised areas are flat across the top.
• #27: Coins are also considered to be 3D if they have curved backs or beveled art or edges. If you place a 3D coin face down on a table, it should wobble. 3D dies also take longer to mold and sculpt than 2D ones. A 3D die at least six days to make while a 2D one takes about 4 days.
• #29: The main reason for engraving a coin is to add different information to each piece, or series of pieces, while utilizing the same die. Examples of things you might want to engrave would be names, years, serial numbers, or titles. In the photos shown, the words, “exceptional leadership” and “social justice” were engraved into the medal and color filled in black soft enamel paint.
• #30: Consecutive numbering also utilizes engraving as a means to number each coin. A lower number can have a higher perceived value to a buyer or recipient than a higher one.