Gold Coins Minted With A Hole?

Can't say I've ever heard of one. The closest I can recall seeing are some extremely scarce solid gold cash coins from the Tang Dynasty; these were made by simply pouring gold into the moulds usually used to make bronze coins. They seem to have been more novelty gifts from the emperor to the upper classes, rather than a functioning component of the monetary system.

Coins are made with large, central holes like this for a variety of reasons, including:

1. By countries where the traditional dress does not include pockets or purses, to allow people to carry the money on a string;
2. To indicate that the coin in question is made of base metal and not precious metal;
3. As part of a process to convert one large coin into two smaller coins.

Reason 1 is invalidated because the colonial authorities that made such coins would have taken the attitude that natives who are rich enough to own a gold coin can darn well afford to go out and buy themselves a decent shirt with a pocket.

Reason 2 is self-invalidating for a gold coin.

As for reason 3, I'm not aware of anyone attempting a "holey dollar" style coin using a gold coin. Again, a country or colony that was well-off enough to mint gold coins could probably afford to install a proper mint and make proper gold coins of their own.

A final reason why this type of format never caught on with gold: gold is soft. A coin with a huge hole in it has a large built-in compromise in its structural integrity; it probably would not stand up well to the knock and tumble of everyday use, getting easily bent or broken.

There IS a Chinese coin with a hole struck in gold.

This is an example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-China-...em5af78ed36b

Another example is PNG coin stuck in gold

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Papua-New-G...em43cf58bdda

Here is a modern issue gold coin minted with a hole.