Worldwide information on coins and tokens with a central hole
v. 1.12 04/25/98
04/19/1998 Mr Paul Baker
sent WHTCCC an image (reverse
obverse) of a holed token. "I know nothing about
this particular piece". Can anyone help him?
03/28/1998 WHTCCC found this information on the page
mystery tokens
of Forrest Stevens:
Swisstone Music Switzerland/Genuine Swiss Made Musical Works (note), 20mm, br
('D' shaped, with 'D' shaped hole) Picture! (15.2 KB)
- I have a feeling that this is an early machine token - throughout France
and perhaps the rest of Europe too cafes and similar establishments had
the forerunner of the jukebox. A token inserted into the machine played
the latest hit. There are people collecting these things as a
specialist subject.
03/08/1998 Peter G. Martin wrote WHTCCC:
"Coins of Papua-New Guinea, used up until the 1950s (I think)
also included some with a central hole. It had been a tradition to
have threaded shells and pearl shell as a native currency before its
colonisation, and the use of coins with a central hole suitable for
stringing on a necklace was a practical introduction to new currency."
Juha Hyötyläinen sent WHTCCC a scanned
page of The pocketbook guide to Australian coins and banknotes
by Greg McDonaldbook: "1813 COLONIAL HOLEY DOLLAR AND DUMP OF AUSTRALIA.
When Governor Lachian Macquarie arrived in Sydney, a lack of coinage saw the
infant colony basically a bartering community using rum as its main unit of
currency. Macquerie went a long way to solving the problem of what coinage
there was being taken by trading ships when he took possession of 40.000
Spanish Dollars which arrived in Port Jackson in 1812. The Spanish Dollar was
an International currency with a value of between Four Shillings and Nine Pence
and Five Shillings. He made the coins very unattractive to foreign traders by
punching the centre out of the coin and giving both parts inflated values over
and above the intrinsic value of the silver. The Holey Dollar, or outer
ring, was valued at Five Shillings while the inner plug, known as the
Dump was valued at Fifteen Pence. They were demonetised in 1829, recalled
and melted down. Less than 300 Holey Dollars are known to exist and about 1000
Dumps survive."
In 1988,1989,1990 new Holey Dollars were minted in proof quality
02/09/1998 Juha Hyötyläinen
sent WHTCCC many images of coins and tokens with a central hole
He also wrote WHTCCC:
Wiesbaden (Germany) token for golf balls (FIM 5 for
the token)
Tokens used to pay for gas in Helsinki. "The oldest I
have is 1925 and the last is 1957". Both sides of the tokens are similar.
"Then I have some holey tokens that I do not have much
information on. I would be happy, if someone could help me to tell where these
have been used. My quess is that they were used by some big company in Estonia
between 1900 and 1944. I have some 10 different. All of these tokens are not
holey, some have a hole in the shape of H and some have a drilled hole in the
middle."
02/04/1998 Do you want to identify your Chinese coins with a central hole?
Try to visit these pages of John Ferguson:
Beginners Guide
Coin Identification Page
Mintmarks Page
Identify Multiple Cash Coins
What about Chinese Charms?
Chinese Charms
02/03/1998 Vlad Volk pointed out the existence
of a token of subway with a central hole in Moscow 1935.
"These tokens were in turning the whole 1 day, whereupon were withdraw
and destroyed, and is at present saved not more than 60 copies".
He sent WHTCCC also the image (4.74 KB).
