# Round coins with square holes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135 "2001-10-08T15:51:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![prefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3be4f8/32.png) [@prefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prefect)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/1 "2001-10-08T15:51:23Z")
I’ve seen pictures of nifty Chinese coins with square holes in them, and I’ve got a couple of questions about these coins. Why? (Which I suppose encompasses “why were the coins round while the holes were square” and “why were there holes at all”). And are these coins still in circulation? That is, if I go to my bank and ask to get my U.S. dollars converted into Chinese yuan (?), can I get a few rolls of holed coins, too? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/2 "2001-10-08T17:23:46Z")
Why are the holes there? So you can carry them around stacked on a stick. This also makes it easier to count them. Why are they round? (WAG alert) Roundedness is a common characteristic of lumps of stuff that get pounded flat with a big-ass hammer. Why are the holes square? I dunno. Variety, maybe, or some other aesthetic reason. Are they still in circulation? Probably. In fact, I hope they are, because I’ve possessed one more than once in my life, and I’d hate to think I carelessly discarded a priceless antiquity. Repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/3 "2001-10-08T17:29:57Z")
Why are the holes there? So you can carry them around stacked on a stick. This also makes it easier to count them. Why are they round? (WAG alert) Roundedness is a common characteristic of lumps of stuff that get pounded flat with a big-ass hammer. Why are the holes square? I dunno. Variety, maybe, or some other aesthetic reason. Are they still in circulation? Probably. In fact, I hope they are, because I’ve possessed one more than once in my life, and I’d hate to think I carelessly discarded a priceless antiquity. Repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/4 "2001-10-08T19:29:24Z")
i doubt you’d be able to get them in a US , EU bank as most of them deal in foriegn currency in the form of notes or travelers cheques but not in coins , a travel agent may have them though , since they regularly exchange coins back into yer native $/£ ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/5 "2001-10-08T20:06:53Z")
Often times, they’d also carry them on strings (like a necklace or a belt, for example). Very handy, I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/6 "2001-10-09T00:19:54Z")
The **square-holed cash** as we refer to them in the world coin business were first produced in China over 2000 years ago. They quit producing/using these in or about 1910. It took about 1000 of them to equal a silver dollar. To give more meaning to that, 10 of them were worth about US one cent at the turn of the century. The story goes that US ships trading with the Orient would bring back tons of these as ballast(they were so cheep), sold them for scrap in the US around the turn of the century and they found use as decorations, adorning sewing baskets, stiched together in rows. They certainly are common. At any given moment, I have 1000 of them in our coin shop, just from the assortment of coins which we purchase over the counter. They are round for the same reason that ancient Greek/Roman coins were round. If you take a blob of metal and pound it, it takes on a round appearance, just as **kaylasdad99** said. Not in circulation since the turn of the 20th century, not exchangeable. I sell them for 50 cents each, US. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/round-coins-with-square-holes/86135/7 "2001-10-09T02:05:19Z")
Japanese 5 yen coins have a round hole. They are symbolic of good luck, and some people wear them with a string through the hole as a lucky totem.