Sherlock Holmes Featured on NYPD Challenge Coin

“There is always the chance of finger-marks or something.”

– The Adventure of the Three Gables (3GAB)

The Latent Print Section of New York’s Police Department issued a challenge coin featuring Sherlock Holmes in early 2015.

For those not familiar with the concept of a challenge coin, it works like this. Traditionally, groups issued these coins to its members offer proof of belonging to the group and to increase morale within that group. You would usually get a challenge coin artist to make you a custom design that is completely unique to your group. The uniqueness of the coins makes them even more special to the people in the group as it represents everything they’ve been through together – whether that’s setting up a business, fighting crime, or just a long friendship. It holds a lot more meaning than just a custom coin because it shows the connection a group of people have.

OBVERSE: LATENT PRINT SECTION / (silhouette of Sherlock Holmes, facing left, with deerstalker cap and pipe, holding a magnifying glass in his right hand, the design mimics a fingerprint) / NYPD

REVERSE: (triangular patch of the New York Police Department) over a background design of a fingerprint

51mm, Round, Nickel Finish, Swirl Edge Cutting

Now, if we could only see Detective Bell and Captain Gregson challenge their fellow officers in a bar scene on an upcoming episode of Elementary…

UPDATE 2/20/2016 – See our post NYPD Latent Print Section Issues Pink Sherlock Themed Challenge Coin