They modeled the pieces after Chinese coins with square holes in the middle. The holes allowed people to string large amounts of coins together. In general, they would add 100 coins per string.

China was among the earliest civilizations to mint coins, with some specimens created more than two millennia ago. You aren’t likely to come across one of those outside of a museum. But even modern ...

MAEBASHI--Archaeologists uncovered an estimated 100,000 ancient coins, some of which are of Chinese origin and are ... and was 1 millimeter thick. The square hole in the middle measured 7 ...