... late-1800 Century Italian gambling chips were made with holes directly in the center.

A perfect illustration in color can be seen on page 24 of Tegtmeier's "CASINOS." All the chips are holed on a layout, and above they're assembled with a cord thru them.

Dale also illustrates a boxed set of gambling chips with holes where the chips are housed onto spindles.

Then there are all those Chinese pieces made w/ holes or were those squares...

John