10 Centavos with hole

Bolivia's holed coinage of the 1880s was introduced partly to discourage melting — a persistent problem when metal values tracked too closely to face values — and partly to distinguish low-denomination coins by touch in a largely illiterate rural population. The 1883 issue came at a politically fractured moment: Bolivia had just lost its coastal territory to Chile in the War of the Pacific, concluded the previous year, stripping the country of its nitrate revenues and access to the sea.

KM#170.2 denotes the second variety, distinguished by minor legend spacing differences from the first.