Also during this time, the British Army’s large enlisted population was predominantly made up of contracted soldiers - the early days of what are now termed as soldiers of fortune. As a result of their financial allegiance to Britain, these individuals could not receive any form of military recognition if they had performed with distinction on the battlefield. In fact, in most cases, the officer in charge of this soldier would earn the deserved medal instead, whether the officer was actively involved in the action or not. The intent here was it was the officer's job to inspire such talent

However, the Regimental Sergeants Major (RSM), who were by all accounts British citizens and all Army careerists, failed to accept this unconditional practice of not adequately rewarding their soldiers for good deeds. So, the RSMs would often obtain a "donated" sixpence and would call the regiment to muster. Before the recognized soldier's peers, the RSM would simply provide a "firm, steady and handsome handshake" to the soldier, while palming the coin. This way the coin would make its transition with little or no visual sight, so it didn't appear that the soldier was getting "a bonus" for his deed. As a matter of fact, in the movie, Breaker Morant which was focused during The Boer War; there's a scene that covered a portion of the coin recognition. The scene showed where the RSMs decided rather than use money, they would sneak into the tents of the officer who was given the unearned medal, cut the medal from the suspension ribbon, and later conduct the handshake ritual before the regiment using the medallion piece instead of the coin.

As time moved on, the American forces in WWII eventually adopted the coin recognition. The medals and awards recognition was of course well extended to all military ranks of the U.S. and allied services. The coin became a collective group rather than individual recognition item, which was specially struck with the unit's crest or insignia. Senior NCOs still served as the primary presenters, which often were given along with battle streamers to units.

In Vietnam, the coin took a different twist of recognition for U. S. military forces. This is probably the story many people know about. The coin although still provided in the same manner as from the WWII era, became known as the challenge coin in which those who had them would slam them on the bar counter to challenge anyone in the bar if they had one. If a person in the bar didn’t have either the same or similar coin to counter the challenge - the non-coin holder was required to buy the bar a round.

Today, challenge coins are in use by several hundred military and law enforcement units.

The coin is more than a souvenir trinket or a round calling card. It maintained its value after over 100 years of ritualistic practice of informally recognizing a military member’s successes and professionalism. It is still presented in most cases in a similar fashion involving the palmed coin handshake. But today, there's more behind that handshake. Just as the RSM shook the hand of a British soldier to thank him for his good deed, the coin today serves as a collective symbol of representing all of our U.S. armed services core values, "Honor, Respect, Duty, Commitment, Integrity, Selfless Service, Excellence, Loyalty, and Courage."