Sunday, October 21, 2012

Product Review: NM-Coin

This is my first product review, and I have decided to feature NM-Coin for to their dedication to the fire service by providing a number of great products at a great price. I was first told about the NM-Coin by the infamous Fire Critic. Thousands of Fire and EMS personnel across the country follow The Fire Critic and Iron Firemen on a daily basis. Their never-ending contribution to the fire service is shown by the dedication they show in sharing the latest news, the most popular events, and the best of various products that are sold. You can guarantee that if they back a product, it is worth checking out. The Fire Critic and the Iron Firemen had their coins, patches, and even badges made by NM-Coin. Pictured below and available by clicking HERE.

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Unaware of what a "challenge coin" was, I first saw them when a neighboring IAFF Local had purchased them. Since I work with a lot of these guys at my part-time gig, I noticed that they would always keep their coins handy and wait for just the right moment to "challenge" their co-worker. I couldn't help but to be curious about why on earth such item would cause them to toss the coin over the shower curtain just to "challenge" one another. After checking in to it a little more, I came to realize that the concept was started in the military. After years of being in the military, the concept had finally progressed to the fire service. In the military, individuals or different units would have their own coins which would either be traded or given to an individual. The "challenge" part of the coin is that you are supposed to keep your coin on you at all times. If a coin is presented and a "challenge" is made, then all the other individuals have a short amount of time to produce their coin. If you are unable to produce your coin, then you must buy a round for the challenger or sometimes even forfeit your coin. When I entered the fire service, we often traded t-shirts with other departments while on vacation or out of town. Today, it has turned in to a more common practice to trade coins.

After dealing with several companies, I took The Fire Critic's recommendation, as I have before, and contacted Mike at NM-Coin. We discussed ideas and prices over the phone, and I then passed along the information to my Department. The first coin that we purchased from NM-Coin was a Chief's Award that was to be presented to the line personnel for a "life-saving event." In the past, several different items had been presented for awards, but the Department wanted to update the procedures with recognizing such event. Within 3-4 weeks of ordering, we had 100 of the nicest coins sitting in a box on the Chief's desk. I knew that this would be a business relationship we would continue building over time. All of the coins arrive packaged in a nice PVC plastic sleeve that protects the coin. There are also many options available like the coin pictured above in the plastic capsules.

The next order of business was to start designing a coin for each station. I talked to Mike about wanting to design a coin for each of our 8 fire stations, and even offering them in a set. We decided to go with a nice shiny silver front on all of the 8 coins, and the back will feature a different design depending on the station design. The Station 2 design shown below is the "antiqued" silver backing with the 3D design. I think the coins have turned out great so far, and I look forward to continuing to using NM-Coin in the future.

 

 

Maybe you're telling yourself that you aren't interested in challenge coins? That doesn't even scratch the surface to all of the products that they have available. The list seems to be never-ending of all of the products they offer for fire, police and EMS service agencies. They also offer badges, name plates, lapel pins, decals, apparatus models, etc. Check out the flyer below for a better idea of what their products look like. I would recommend NM-Coin to ANY and EVERY person looking to purchase any of the items they offer.


Give Mike a shout at mike@nm-coin.com or 800-COIN-123.

Don't forget to tell him that Andrew or The Fire Critic/Iron Firemen sent you!

2 comments:

  1. A good review on firefighter challenge coins. These coins honor the fighters and the soldiers in particular department like army, navy and military.

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  2. thanks for sharing an amazing review. these coins given as an award to honor the extraordinary work of anybody. Challenge Coins Honoring Firefighters and Police Officers

    ReplyDelete