HOW IT BEGAN…

About three years ago, and more than 10 after I retired from the Navy, I started periodically buying “challenge coins” from both the Navy Exchange and Ebay which depicted some of my past duty stations, e.g. USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73), USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69), Naval Station Norfolk, etc.  The more I bought, the more I liked them.  I thought they were great souvenirs; easy to display, inexpensive, and what I thought at the time, easy to acquire.  But the more I looked the less I found from most of my old duty stations.  Ones that had been decommissioned, disestablished or just vanished had no representation.  After countless hours of searching the internet, reading the various websites and blogs from the likes of RTC Orlando, RTC San Diego, Navy Veterans, and looking at the large number of photos available from many of my old duty stations, I realized that I wasn’t gong to get a chance to acquire a complete collection of coins to commemorate my Navy career.

Then I got an idea: "Why not do it myself?"  I was an admin guy in the Navy and very fortunate to constantly find myself in an environment that offered opportunities to be creative and enhance the overall process of where I was stationed at any given time.  So I started putting a list together of the coins I needed/wanted, assembled files of pictures, line art, and anything I thought I would need in the design process and went to work.  When I convinced my family that I was serious about this and that I wanted to invest some of our family funds in this venture, we were off.

I contacted a company nearby that specialized in military challenge coins, gave them my files and ideas and then started researching how my son, wife, and I were going to sell them.  After a weeks long quest, and going through a handful of possible names for the company, we knew we found the right one when my son, Chad, came up with Timeless Military Coins.  Since our main focus and starting point is manufacturing and selling primarily coins and medallions that commemorate duty stations that are no longer in existence, we thought our name should invoke the feeling of how we began: NOSTALGIA.  We want to provide our customers that feeling.  My wonderful wife of 38 years, Pam...a tried and true Navy Wife, followed and devised our motto: "Preserving the Past for the Future." I got the distinct impression when reading the blogs, etc., mentioned above that there are lots of folks out there like me that are looking for one more, one unique, and maybe a one-of-kind souvenir from places they’ve been. With nostalgia being our "main ingredient," I have to say personally it has been a joyous process getting to walk down memory lane again throughout the process of designing the coins and medallions we offer thus far. It brings back memories from my career in the United States Navy and, if you get the chance to visit and comment on our Blog page, a great way to start conversations amongst each other. 

While our inventory is small right now, we had to start somewhere but I’ve got lots of other ideas for future coins and medallions.  (By the way, the reason we’re calling these commemorative medallions is because they are not “challenge coins” in the traditional sense.  They are meant to be solely what they are, commemorative.)  So check back often.  I plan on writing a little bit each week talking about the coins and my experience at each command.  Comments, remarks, feedback or other ideas about some of your previous duty stations are welcome. And if you have ideas that you'd like to see a product for, we will be more than happy to assist you in the process. Thanks for stopping by.