Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
2005 edition is misleading-not updated since 2000!!!, January 15, 2005
Although this is the 2005 edition, the info for many countries has not been updated since 2000. In fact, there is no information at all included on any coin issued after 2000 for many countries. The information that is included is incomplete, especially for smaller countries. But there are huge omissions(many items missing) for the even the most populated countries in the world, especially China (PRC). I felt cheated as I expected this to be a professional, complete reference work. Instead it was sloppy, disorganized and incomplete.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good old Krause again. Well, Older but Not Necessarily Better, July 19, 2005
This is a book a coin collector simply cannot live without. Over 2300 pages packed with information on coins. Obviously, there are better catalogues for specific periods or territories but none so comprehensive. At some point your collection will reach the level when other catalogues are necessary but when you decide to go beyond your local coinage there is no better start. If you really concentrate on some period or country, you will soon outgrow it. If you begin to broaden your numismatic horizons, this is your guide and you may need no other. And yet it seems that with every year the editorial board is less and less in control over that magnificent undertaking.
Judging by the information available in the catalogue many countries gave up production of coins two or three years ago. This applies also to countries which basically live on coin and stamp production such as Isle of Man (ends at 2003)or Gibraltar (some 2003 issues missing) which should be all too happy to provide up-to-date information including issues planned for the coming year.
In case of some countries there are gaps in the past even going back beyond 2000 even if issues from 2004 are included. By the end of 2004 Belarus issued some 40 different commemorative 1 rouble coins - Krause 2006 includes only 23! The complete information is readily available on the Internet and the editorial board should finally notice the fact.
But there is more than that. Pricing also seems not too have been updated for a while. Just to stick to my last example: two Belorussian 1 rouble coins from 1999 had mintage of 1000 only (the catalogue quotes no mintages for majority of coins from this country anyway...) by now they cost $70 to $100 if you can find them at all. Krause has stuck to $11,50 for each ever since they were included.
Initial prices could be quite high as well - the euro madness of 2002 lifted prices of many low mintage euro coins beyond any reasonable level. But that was three years ago and prices quoted for example for San Marino euro coins are by now double the market estimates.
Some prices are simply a joke - French 100 francs from 1986 (KM#960) is priced at 66% of face value. Guernsey 5 pounds coins are priced at $6 (KM#108) or $7,50 (#100 and 106) while their face value is almost $9. Five different types of commemorative 50 guilders from the Netherlands are priced at $20 in BU while the last 50 guilders coin from 1998 (Krause #227) is priced at 4 (four) dollars. Well, 50 guilders equal 22,70 euro and the coins may still be exchanged for euro.
The editors may claim that their prices are based on US market. The fact is, however, that eBay and other Internet auctions made the concept of "US market" obsolete. Any dealer from the US can put a rare Polish coin on eBay and there will be a crowd of Polish buyers ready to pay Polish price for it.
The strangest thing is that some coins listed do not exist at all - according to San Marino official mint website there are only two coins commemorating 1600 years of Ravenna - 20 and 50 euro in gold issued in 2002. Krause adds two more 5 and 10 euro (KM #450 and 451) providing the descriptions of gold issue...
The editors removed all "medallic issues" while they kept "patterns and trial strikes" even though, at least from my point of view, medallic issues such as the lovely Monaco 10 francs from 1966 with the late princess Grace and prince Rainier III can be sought after collectables while vast majority of trial pieces is interesting only to top specialists if only because of mintages of a few copies. Usually there are no pictures of patterns which makes these parts of the catalogue completely useless to 95% of its readers.
Some information provided is unnecessary (Does anyone need the information on ruler added to every coin - e.g. the name of John Paul II repeated 210 times?) some is plain wrong. Tamara was the Queen not the King of Georgia and she ruled from 1184 to 1213 not 1136 to 1224. At least according to Britannica.
In short there is some mistake every few pages. Hundrends in the impressive volume. And yet it is good old Krause. A book like an old friend. You know his shortcomings, you know he is not really up-to-date (whatever he may claim), you know that he gets more and more forgetful every year, you know he can be terribly obstinate and stick to his mistakes for years. But you reach for him in need because, well, you haven't got a better friend.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A mint index, and much more pack in updated values with historical notes and pages of reference detail, October 6, 2005
Coin collectors will surely already know Krause's weighty coin catalogs: the 33rd edition of the 2006 Standard Catalog Of World Coins is now on the market, and it packs in the price guides in well over 2,000 pages. No color here, but the coins don't need color representation, and there are black and white photos throughout. But this is more than a weighty id guide: various charts, explanations of grading terminology which affects coin values so greatly, conversion charts for dates, a mint index, and much more pack in updated values with historical notes and pages of reference detail.
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