Modern design, for the most part. The "hole" and file work are decorative
With respect while the "hole" on the cutting edge is a modern addition to trade knives - the Spanish Notch as the "hole" and cutting edge filework is called goes back to at least the late Medieval/Renaissance times.
It has no "by design" practical purpose - it is a decorative relic of the "sword catcher/breaker" notches used on left hand (main gauche)daggers of the period when rapiers were the primary weapon of choice.
Plenty of documented period (both 18th and especially 19th centuries) knives have such Spanish notches on the cutting edge.
On the other hand the file work on the spine does show up on some period trade knives - see the LaNouvelle France sight for some examples of the latter.
