Is it a Geocoin?

[+cimawr]

Last week, I found a coin or medal near a cache - not in the cache, but on the ground, partially buried in leaves, as I was hiking away. It's not a trackable geocoin, but otherwise looks like one; same general size, weight, etc.

When I got home, I read back through the cache's logs as far as I could go (which was well over a year back) and didn't find anything that obviously referenced the item... so I thought I'd ask in here if anyone has ever seen something like it and/or might be able to shed some light on the subject.

 

The coin or medallion is approximately 1.5' wide; on one side it has the heraldic insignia for the U.S. 1st Field Artillery, including the motto "Primus Aut Nullus", with "9th Battalion 1st Field Artillery" across the top, and "Deep Strike" at the bottom.

On the reverse, it has four smaller insignia for "A-26 FA", "B-20 FA", "HHB-41D-D/A", and "31st Chem".

 

It's gold in color, with the large insignia enamelled in red, black, and green, and both the words and insignia are embossed.

[+Go JayBee]

Sounds like a military "Challenge Coin"...there are cachers who leave them in caches as swag. They are great collector items and are generally made by the same folks that make all of our GeoCoins.

[+cimawr]

Sounds like a military "Challenge Coin"...there are cachers who leave them in caches as swag.

 

Thanks! I did a bit of Internet research on the term, and am now sure that's what I found.

 

I guess I'll never know whether it was ever in the cache, or if it was a coincidence that it was lying near it, especially since the cache's logs go back to March of 2005, and there's no mention at all of the coin being there.

If it was intended as swag, I do wish 1, that I knew who left it, and 2, that I'd left something in trade - the cache is small, had only a couple of cheapo kid's toys in it, and wasn't in very good shape. If it WASN'T, I hope somebody's not missing it!