What does Krause have wrong in a series you collect?

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by Stork, Jul 17, 2017.

  1. Stork

    Stork I deliver Supporter

    I'm talking more than just a missing mintage/variety listing, or even when they accidentally leave out a few pages. Something flat out WRONG.

    I've posted my favorite examples before from Albania (the 1928 1 and 2 Franga that were minted in provas, but not circulation, and the gold 1926 Zog bust 20 FrA) but now I'm curious if there is other flat out wrong stuff like coins not minted listed or minted and not listed etc.

    And, in Krause's defense I've gotten ahold of an Italian sourced listing of the Albanian money from 1975. It too has identifiable errors, but does list the above coins as ones exiting. There is a bibliography in the back which includes the 1972 Krause, so some of that might be a circular perpetuating of bad info. I need to go through that bibliography and try and get more texts to look at.

    Looking at the Bank of Albania site it does NOT support the minting of circulating coins in 1928, but oddly does place one of the gold provas there. It also is missing an obviously 'real' coin though, and has a bit of translating issues (calling some silvers gold).

    Anyway, it's clear that there is something not right about the Krause section, I just can't figure out a definitive source to offer corrections.

    So, what are the flat out errors you can say about Krause?
     
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  3. cladking

    cladking Coin Collector

    Their prices for moderns are flat out wrong. Generally they are underreported but then one year out of the blue they'll raise the price through the roof and then drop it most of the way back after a few years.

    They put stuff in the wrong place, make it hard to find issues and unilaterally change the names of entire countries. It's not just nonsense like calling Burma Myanmar because they got a phone call that the Burmese don't like the English word but dropping the "El" which is an integral part of the word "El Salvador".

    I have seen coins that they don't list but can't remember any specific examples right now.

    They used to do a pretty good job. The hard cover 12th edition is extremely well done and one of the three best. Now the work is so sloppy and out of touch with the reality of the markets I care about there's little point in buying it. Leaving out entire countries (like Spain) is just symptomatic of their problems.

    The work required to fix this thing is really pretty nominal but it goes undone year after year.

    I haven't seen this year's edition yet (and might not) but last years was still a mess. They did seem to be trying to fix some of the pricing issues last year but instead of concentrating on prices that were off the most they went after prices that were too high!
     
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  4. spirityoda

    spirityoda Coin Junky

    some times the values are way off. some times the value are the same from last year. these values are just a place to start because some rarer coins in todays market place are worth way more. some coins rarely come up on the market causing the price to increase way more in real life in real time.
     
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  5. Stork

    Stork I deliver Supporter

    I agree the values are a mess, but sometimes are good for relative value. I wish they did a bit more with varieties for Japan. Or, if they go to the trouble of saying 'varieties exist' well, say what they are! All their type I and II nonsense is annoying. Thankfully the TPG at least specify (even though those are wildly wrong at times too).
     
  6. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I was working on a modern Greek set, and I spent hours searching for two coins from either 1999 or 2000 that Krause listed but I've since been told by multiple sources do not exist.
     
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  7. sakata

    sakata Devil's Advocate

    I don't trust them that much, but they are the best source for people in the USA. One solution I have found is to buy old ones on Bookfinders.com at nominal prices. I have many, many different editions which I bought for less than $10 each and have found that they are not all consistent.
     
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  8. serafino

    serafino Well-Known Member

    Krause is much better than nothing. I have those catalogs and they try to do a good job but they are spread too thin.
    I mostly collect pre-1920 Italian & Italian States' coins and I much prefer the Italian printed "Gigante Monete Italiane" series of catalogs. I buy mine on the Italian Ebay. I can read basic Italian and these books are MUCH better than Krause's coverage of Italian coins.
    I'm sure every country out there has good coin books/catalogs covering their domestic coins and their history.
     
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  9. Numismat

    Numismat World coin enthusiast

    Never use Krause for values. Do proper research. I make a killing on Buy-It-Now listings from dealers that list their coins based on Krause values. If unsure, list as an auction rather than BIN.
     
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  10. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I was really into Brazilian coins for awhile, and there are some coins with mintages under 100,000 that Krause lists for a few dollars, but in reality they sell for prices approaching $100 or more sometimes. British Honduras is another low mintage country that always exceeds the Krause values.
     
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  11. sakata

    sakata Devil's Advocate

    The last two posts are interesting because my experience is that the vast majority of coins sell for way less than the Krause value.
     
  12. Numismat

    Numismat World coin enthusiast

    This is very much true for the common, high mintage and what some would call "junk bin" coins. It often flips around the other way for scarcer, low mintage coins in better grades.
     
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  13. cladking

    cladking Coin Collector

    It's also not true for many high mintage coins in chBU. People have neglected to save most moderns ands this especially applies to cu/ ni coins of fairly high denomination. People couldn't afford to save coins with a face value of about a quarter or higher in most countries and there was no interest in the US for these "debased common coins".
     
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  14. brg5658

    brg5658 Well-Known Member

    The Krause guide for this medal describes it as commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity to Bohemia. This is not what the medal was struck to commemorate, as Christianity was prevalent in Moravia and Bohemia some 100 years before the year 929. I surmise that some of the confusion comes from the date of 929 -- at the time the medal was struck, scholars mostly assigned a death year to St. Wenceslas of 929. However, since the early 20th century, most scholars agree St. Wenceslas was likely assassinated in 935, not 929. Nonetheless, this is just one of many examples where you can't always believe descriptions offered in the Krause guide (and other guides).

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. kanga

    kanga 65 Year Collector

    I've been collecting Japanese Occupation of China (1933-1945).
    In 1944 and 1945 fiber coins were "struck" (Japan couldn't use metal for anything except the war effort).
    Krause lists Red fiber and Brown fiber varieties.
    EVERYONE I talk to says the Brown varieties don't exist.
    Any in Brown are just Red ones that have toned/gotten dirty.
     
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  16. Stork

    Stork I deliver Supporter

    Agreed re: the fiber. I dug up what few English sources, and with the little bit of translation from the JNDA I had, and that's what I found too.
     
  17. Numismat

    Numismat World coin enthusiast

    I've come to the same observation. Any brown ones are red underneath when they chip or get scratched
     
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