The adage is "buy the book before you buy the coin."  Normally, this is sound advise.  But, what if the book is wrong?  The Standard Catalog of World Coins, aka "Krause" is an excellent reference guide, full of compiled information.  But how accurate is that information? 

Recently, as I have begun to build my collection of Kingdom of Serbia coins (1868-1918), I have discovered that an error in Krause is creating difficulties in filling certain holes in my collection.

I am not sure when Krause went astray, but sometime between 1996 (my 1996 Krause has the correct listings) and 2002, their information became askew and incorrect.  I have heard that they converted their database to digital, and that everything had to be entered manually, which may be the root of the discrepancies.

To put is simply, in 1915, the Serbian government contracted with the French Mint in Paris to produce silver 50 para, 1 dinar and 2 dinara coinage.  These issues were previously minted in Vienna, Austria for 1912 and Kremnica, Czechoslovakia for 1904.  These earlier issues (1904 and 1912) were all struck in medallic alignment.  The Paris mint struck ALL of the 1915 issue in coin alignment.  Earlier issues of Krause (at least up to 1996) were accurate in their listings, but by 2002 the information had been modified incorrectly.

from my 1996 Krause:

50 para

KM 24.1

• 1904*
• mintage 1.400
• Fine - 2.00
• VF - 5.00
• XF - 12.00
• UNC - 25.00
  

• 1912*
• mintage .800
• Fine - 2.50
• VF - 6.00
• XF - 15.00
• UNC - 30.00

• 1915(a)
• mintage 12.138
• Fine - 1.00
• VF - 2.00
• XF - 4.00
• UNC - 10.00

*NOTE: medallic struck

KM 24.2

w/o designers signature

• 1915(a)
• mintage 1.862
• Fine - 5.00
• VF - 10.00
• XF - 25.00
• UNC - 85.00

As you can see from the above list, there are 4 distinct coins needed to complete this set (1904, 1912, 1915 w/ signature, 1915 w/o signature).  Note also that it is noted that only the 1904 and 1912 issues were struck with medallic alignment.

Fast forward to the 2008 Krause, and now there are miraculously 6 coins in the set.
KM 24.1 lists all 3 dates, in medallic alignment, with signature.
KM 24.2 lists the 1915 issue, in medallic alignment, without signature.
(the mintages given for the 1915 listed under KM 24.1 and KM 24.2 are the correct mintages for that year)
KM 24.3 lists the 1915 issue, in coin aligment, with signature.
KM 24.4 lists the 1915 issue, in coin alignment, without signature.
(there are no mintages, nor values given for these, which generally indicates the item as rare or seldom seen)

The 1915 issue listed under KM 24.1, as well as the coin listed as KM 24.2 do not exist.  And the mintages and values assigned to these phantom coins should be applied to KM 24.3 and KM 24.4.

This whole listing structure is also carried through the 1 dinar and 2 dinara issues, KM 25 and KM 26, respectively.

Too often have I found normal 1915 issues (with coin alignment) listed with astronomical prices because the Krause catalog doesn't give values, implying that they are some rare varieties, which they are not.

My information refuting the Krause listings is also backed by the listings in "Coins of Serbia, Montenegro and Yugoslavia", by Ranko Mandic, published in Serbian/English by the Serbian Numismatic Society, Belgrade Serbia, 2006.