Sherlock Hound – The Sovereign Gold Coins (1985)

“Holmes held up a sovereign.”

– The Adventure of the Priory School (PRIO)

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 11th episode that broadcasted on January 29, 1985, titled The Sovereign Gold Coins (ねらわれた巨大貯金箱, “The Targeted Giant Coin Bank”). Briefly, the plot has Sherlock Hound investigating the disappearance of 20 sovereign gold coin from a specially constructed vault. After watching the episode, there were a few details that reminded me of The Red-Headed League. Do you agree?

Counting the gold sovereign coins and discovering 20 are missing, from the Sherlock Hound episode, The Sovereign Gold Coins

Adding gum to a sovereign coin, from the Sherlock Hound episode, The Sovereign Gold Coins

Once again, the coin features a canine representation of Queen Victoria. As in other episodes, the reverse of the coin is never seen.

Sherlock Hound retrieving coins from the vault, from the Sherlock Hound episode, The Sovereign Gold Coins

Gold sovereign coins falling from the sky after the vault is destroyed during a robbery attempt, from the Sherlock Hound episode, The Sovereign Gold Coins

For those who 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.