A Second Variety of the Chicago Police Detectives Challenge Coin

“I was an officer in Chicago…”

– The Valley of Fear (VALL)

Two varieties of the Chicago Police Detectives Challenge Coin – the “original” design from circa 2007 on the left and the revised “detailed” design from 2015 on the right

Two years ago, we first posted about the Sherlockian themed challenge coin issued by the Chicago Police Detective Division. We can now report that there are at least two varieties of this challenge coin in the marketplace.

In the picture above, the challenge coin on the right is the one we described in our original post. The challenge coin pictured on the left is what we will now refer to as the “original” design.  Both designs feature a golden Sherlock Holmes superimposed on a silver background of the Chicago skyline.

The major difference between these two coins is that the “original” design is simply a silhouette of Holmes, while the second design is much more detailed showing details of Holmes face and texture to his outfit. In addition, the pipes on both designs are different and on the second design, Holmes’ hand holding the pipe hugs the border of the design.

In researching this find, we were able to find records of online auction sales of the “original” design dating back to 2007. The revised design with the more detail appears to have been issued in 2015.

This could be an example of “you see, but you do not observe.”