Biological databases, with their rapidly expanding contents, are indispensable tools in the quest to understand more about biological function. However, a serious user of a database that comprises a large collection of data, collected over a long period, will likely be struck by the inconsistency in reporting individual items of data. This paper takes a critical look at the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to explore the seriousness of the problem in one particular data set and to explore the implications to those actively engaged in comparative analysis of these data.