diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
index f4fcf7cf4..4a5cd08c1 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
@@ -27,11 +27,23 @@ public class CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel extends ObjectPropertyTemplateM
 
     private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel.class);  
     private static final String DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE = "listViewConfig-default-collated.xml";
+    private static final Pattern QUERY_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("SELECT[^{]*\\?subclass\\b");
     
     private SortedMap<String, List<ObjectPropertyStatementTemplateModel>> subclasses;
     
-    CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel(ObjectProperty op, Individual subject, VitroRequest vreq) throws Exception {
+    CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel(ObjectProperty op, Individual subject, VitroRequest vreq) 
+        throws InvalidConfigurationException {
+        
         super(op, subject, vreq); 
+        
+        /* Make sure the query contains a subclass variable. If not, throw an exception so the caller will create
+         * an UncollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel instead.
+         */
+        String queryString = getQueryString();
+        Matcher m = QUERY_PATTERN.matcher(queryString);
+        if ( ! m.find()) { 
+            throw new InvalidConfigurationException("Invalid configuration: Query does not select a subclass variable."); 
+        }
 
         /* Get the data */
         WebappDaoFactory wdf = vreq.getWebappDaoFactory();
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/ObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/ObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
index 39dcc0d39..dd7345cda 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/ObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/web/templatemodels/individual/ObjectPropertyTemplateModel.java
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ public abstract class ObjectPropertyTemplateModel extends PropertyTemplateModel
         if (op.getCollateBySubclass()) {
             try {
                 return new CollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel(op, subject, vreq);
-            } catch (Exception e) {
+            } catch (InvalidConfigurationException e) {
                 log.error(e, e);
                 return new UncollatedObjectPropertyTemplateModel(op, subject, vreq);
             }
@@ -209,6 +209,15 @@ public abstract class ObjectPropertyTemplateModel extends PropertyTemplateModel
         }
     }
     
+    protected class InvalidConfigurationException extends Exception { 
+
+        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+
+        protected InvalidConfigurationException(String s) {
+            super(s);
+        }
+    }
+    
     /* Access methods for templates */
     
     public String getType() {
diff --git a/webapp/web/templates/freemarker/body/samples.ftl b/webapp/web/templates/freemarker/body/samples.ftl
index 75f82499e..f46d01c70 100644
--- a/webapp/web/templates/freemarker/body/samples.ftl
+++ b/webapp/web/templates/freemarker/body/samples.ftl
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@
 
 <p>${year?number?c}</p>
 
+<h3>Raw String Literals</h3>
+<p>${r"#{title}"}</p>
+<p>${r"${title}"}</p>
+
 <@dump var="now" />
 <@dump var="urls" />
 <@dump var="fruit" />