Holes In Foreign Coins

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The two main practical reasons for placing holes on coins:

- As KurtS stated, a huge hole in the middle of a coin is a nice, unmistakable means of distinguishing a silver-coloured but base-metal (eg. cupronickel) coin from a silver coin of similar size, either current or obsolete. This is the primary reason for European holed coins. Norway is an excellent example: the 1 krone was a "normal" (unholed) silver coin up until WWI, at which time they switched to a cupronickel coin the same size. To make it obvious to everyone that the 1 krone was no longer silver, it's got a central hole. Base-metal coins of France, Greece, Palestine and elsewhere are all holed for this reason.

- In many parts of the world, the traditional items of clothing don't have pockets. To make allowance for this, some or all of the colonial coinage of several African and Pacific countries are holed. New Guinea, Fiji, East Africa and West Africa all have examples of this kind of holed coinage. It may sound a bit patronising to us today, but I'm sure the colonial authorities meant well. As far as I know, only Papua New Guinea still perpetuates the practice of producing holed coinage for the convenience of the traditionally dressed.

Other reasons for holing coins might include adding a different shape for the illiterate (as biggfredd stated) or to try to save metal during times of high metal price: a large hole in the middle of a coin lets you make a large coin with less raw materials. Certain coins from India and the Philippines might fall into either of these categories.