And if anyone wants to make this project reality don't hesitate to get in contact with me. I've already contacted the main 3 manufacturers listed on this thread, but have also asked for some help off the more prominent users in the collectible section to suggest alternatives. I'm not expecting a reply from a few of them due to inactivity, and not all of them if any will be interested in making custom coins. I'm really hoping I find someone on the forum to do this rather than an external manufacturer, and it seems the votes agree with that view.
Denarium might be a good person to contact. They seem pretty active and the have a contact link on their site (I'm happy to do this if you don't want to).
Funded coins are definitely better than ones that aren't and a supply of 300 to 1000 is probably best also.
Not sure if this has been mentioned but I was thinking that a bitcointalk plaque could be made (at an expense of say $200) out of brass or pewter and given to a user for a certain number of merits (like the YouTube plaques) when we more commonly see people with 10000 merit it would be quite a nice way to go I think.