Java Edition:Coal Ore (Item)
Coal ore is the most common ore in Minecraft, but it was not normally obtainable as an item until Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4, with the introduction of Silk Touch. However, there were methods to obtain coal ore as an item prior to this. Coal ore is considered a recontinued feature.
Obtaining
Mining
From Classic 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST to Classic 0.25_05 SURVIVAL TEST coal ore items could be obtained by mining the block, and did not require any tools. Only versions Classic 0.25 SURVIVAL TEST and later can actually save, and out of those only Classic 0.25_05 SURVIVAL TEST has been archived and the others are lost. In Classic 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST, Classic 0.27 SURVIVAL TEST, and Classic 0.30-s coal ore drops 1-3 stone slabs instead of coal ore items.
Classic Creative Inventory
From Classic 0.28 to Classic 0.30c, coal ore was available in the Classic creative inventory.
Indev Item Chests
From Indev 20100124-2119 to Indev 20100125 new worlds would generate with the Indev House, and inside the house were debug chests. Between Indev 20100124 and Indev 20100125 the chests held items in stacks of 99, while in Indev 20100128 the chests held items in stacks of 100. Coal ore was one of the such items that generated inside the debug chests.
Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 Debug Chests
In Beta 1.6 Test Build 3, any newly generated world would contain up to 11 debug chests with every item in the game. The coal ore item was obtainable in the chests 1st and 4th from the left in the 16th and 27th slots respectively, in stacks of 64.
Silk Touch
With the introduction of Silk Touch in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 until 1.21.6 Release Candidate 1 (present), when mining coal ore with a Silk Touch tool the block would drop itself instead of coal. This does not work in 12w32a (1.4.2 Snapshot) due to a bug, causing this method to be discontinued for that snapshot.
See also