Sherlock Hound – A Small Client (1984)

“… the counterfeiter stands in a class by himself …”

– The Adventure of the Three Garridebs (3GAR)

Between November 6, 1984 and May 21, 1985, 26 episodes of the animated series Sherlock Hound aired in Japan. Based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, the characters were portrayed by anthropormorphic dogs.

Sherlock Hound was the title given to the series when syndicated in the United States. In Japan, the series was known as 名探偵ホームズ, Meitantei Hōmuzu, literally translated as “Detective Holmes.” Some of the 26 episodes had plots that dealt with coins or money.

One example of this is the third episode that broadcasted on November 24, 1984 titles A Small Client (小さなマーサの大事件!?, or “Little Martha’s Big Mystery!?” ). Briefly, the plot revolves around a counterfeit money problem in London. Sherlock Hound suspects Professor Moriarty as the culprit, but is unable to find any leads until a little girl comes asking for help in finding her father. After watching the episode, I found some details that reminded me of The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb. Do you agree?

A close-up view of a counterfeit coin in the Sherlock Hound episode, A Small Client

The coins in the episode appear to be dated 1894 with a canine representation of Queen Victoria. The denomination is never mentioned and the reverse of the coin is never seen during the episode.

Newspaper Boy selling papers about fake coins in the Sherlock Hound episode, A Small Client. Perhaps they failed to spell “fake” correctly?

Coining press striking fake coins in the Sherlock Hounds episode, A Small Client

Fake coins falling into a bin after being struck, in the Sherlock Hounds episode, A Small Client

For those that would like to see the entire episode:

We’ll share some of the other episodes with numismatic themes from time to time here in future posts.