Standard Catalog of World Coins

Numismatics

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The Standard Catalog of World Coins is a series of numismatic catalogs commonly known as the Krause catalogs in the numismatic hobby. They are published by Krause Publications, a division of F+W Publications.

Overview

These massive by-century volumes list by date virtually every coin type, most photographed, with mintage and other information, plus market valuations in up to 5 grades. Listings are by denomination rather than series, as in earlier World coin catalogs. The proprietary Krause-Mishler (or KM) numbers are widely used; for just a few countries earlier systems such as Y (Yeoman) and C (Craig) numbers are given instead.

The century format is often considered inconvenient and expensive for those who collect geographically, and date listings are clipped at the century mark. Originally covering 1800-date, the main catalog (first edition 1972) evolved into an annual 20th century-only work, plus separate 17th, 18th, and 19th century volumes which are revised less frequently. Beginning with the 34th (2007) ed, listings after 2000 are dropped, and an annual 21st Century catalog covers 2001-date.

Data from the by-century volumes are collated together in special editions for Crowns, Gold, German, and North American coins. Fantasies and medallion issues, which do not appear in the other catalogs, are covered a product called Unusual World Coins.

Notable editions: 12th (1986) &19th (1992) are two-volume hardcovers covering 1700-date; 13th (1987) is the last edition to include cross-references to Yeoman and Craig; 23rd (1996) is the last main edition covering 1800-date; 33rd (2006) is the last 20th century edition including 21st century listings.

List priced at $73 to $85 ($25 for the shorter 21st century catalog) they are often discounted, and can be found in many public libraries. Older editions are steeply discounted even though revisions between editions in many areas are minimal. Following the appearance of pirated DVD versions, DVDs were included with the 1601-1700 4th edition, the 1901-2000 36th edition, and possibly others, but are now sold as a separate product.

Early editions attribute authorship to Chester L. Krause (krou as in plow -zee), the publisher, and Clifford Mishler, although starting with the second edition Colin R. Bruce II was the actual chief compiler and is given an editor or senior editor title on later editions, George S. Cuhaj is the current editor, with Thomas Michael credited as market analyst.

Contributions from many collector experts and dealers are collated by the KP staff to create revised listings and valuations for new editions. Valuations may or may not reflect the market accurately, and collectors should use the Krause values as a starting point for their own market research. Volatility in precious metals may affect the base prices of many common silver and gold coins.

As of May 2010 the most recent editions are as follows:

2001-2011, 2012 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 6th Edition - digital copy available separately

1901-2000, 2012 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 39th Edition - digital copy available separately

1801-1900, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 6th Edition - digital copy available separately

1701-1800, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 5th Edition - digital copy available separately

1601-1700, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 4th Edition - digital copy available

Standard Catalog of German Coins, 1501-2011, was released in a greatly expanded 3rd edition in Fall 2010.

Digital downloads are now available for many areas.

The on-line version of the Standard Catalog series is a product called Numismaster.com. One can search for catalog numbers and information for free, and a small monthly or annual subscription is available for full listing and pricing information.

Similar but slightly less comprehensive works are A Catalog of Modern World Coins 1850-1964 by Richard S. Yeoman (2008, 14th ed, Whitman Publishing), source of the "Y" numbers and its companion, Coins of the World 1758 - 1850 by William D. Craig (1976, 3rd ed.), and "Weltmünzkatalog 20./21. Jahrhundert" by Günter Schön (2009, 38th ed, Battenberg Verlag, Münich) in German, which often contains detailed descriptions of coin designs, but includes less coin photographs than the Krause catalogs.

Criticism

The book has misspellings that do not get corrected when new editions are released. See the article on piedfort for an example that has been misspelled as "piefort" in some places in the book, leading to misattribution of coin types. The influence of the book has caused the incorrect spelling "piefort" to be used by third-party grading services such as NGC and PCGS in labeling coin attributions.

See also

• Coin catalog
• Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
• A Guide Book of United States Coins
• Piedfort

External links

• Krause Publications
• Numismaster.com