A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars
About TFG
Alphabetical Listing of Members
Chronological Listing of Members
The Fourth Garrideb, a club devoted to coin collecting in connection with the mystery stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and the other literary works of Arthur Conan Doyle, was formed by 7 members on Saturday, August 9, 2014 during the World’s Fair of Money of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in Chicago, Illinois.
Our name is based on the Adventures of the Three Garridebs, a Sherlock Holmes story published in 1923 that contains a few numismatic references.
One of the primary goals of TFG is to document and catalog numismatic items related to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle.
The idea for this club was first discussed in the mid 1990’s during several ANA conventions by Greg D. Ruby, a numismatist active in the Middle Atlantic states and Edward C. Rochette, a long-term staff member and then officer of the ANA, as well as a coin collecting columnist syndicated by the Los Angeles Times. Both were avid Sherlockians and compared notes about Sherlock Holmes related numismatic items when they got together. Unfortunately, it would not be until nearly 20 years later when Ruby started to work on a Sherlockian group of coin collectors.
During the spring of 2014, Ruby was laid up in bed recovering from an injury and was rereading the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories and recalled the earlier conversations with Rochette. Ruby reached out to another numismatist and Sherlockian active in the New England area, Robert F. Fritsch, to discuss the idea and decided to go ahead with the idea. Announcements appeared in The E-Sylum and Numismatic News to gauge interest from other numismatists and another announcement in Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, which was then reprinted in a few other Sherlockian newsletters.
Many folks responded to the announcements and it was decided to proceed with an organizational meeting during the 2014 annual ANA convention. Hours after being organized, TFG applied for a club membership in the ANA and was accepted. A month later, TFG was recognized as an official scion of the Baker Street Irregulars.
The Garrideb Decadrachm, formerly presented to all members
Lifetime membership in the TFG is available by clicking HERE. A one-time fee is charged to recover a portion of the costs of hosting this website.
The club / scion leadership can consist of a Gasogene (President), Tantalus (Secretary) and Commissionaire (Treasurer). If the roles are consolidated with one person, that person is considered as Mycroft, as Mycroft Holmes “was the British government…..”
Mycroft – Greg D. Ruby, BSI, ASH
Greg began collecting coins in 1976, the same year he read his first Sherlock Holmes story – The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. A graduate of the University of Baltimore, Ruby is a Certified Meeting Professional and association management consultant. His collecting specialities are Maryland numismatics and U.S. military payment certificates. Ruby is a past President of the Baltimore Coin Club (MD), Catonsville Coin Club (MD), Maryland Token and Medal Society, Middle Atlantic Numismatic Association and the Eastern States Numismatic Association. The founder and first Executive Director of the Baltimore Area Numismatic Coalition, Ruby also served on the boards of the Maryland State Numismatic Association and the Token and Medal Society. An award winning exhibitor, Ruby was also honored with an ANA Presidential Award and is a member of the Numismatic Literary Guild. In the world of Sherlock Holmes, Ruby is a member of the Denizens of the Bar of Gold, the Diogenes Club of Washington, the Red Circle of Washington, the White Rose Irregulars, and is a Master Copper-Beech-Smith of the Sons of the Copper Beeches in Philadelphia, along with several others. He has been published in the pages of The Newspapers, Irene’s Cabinet, The Watsonian and contributed a chapter to Trenches, the most recent book in the BSI Press Manuscript Series. He is the current Gasogene of the Six Napoleons of Baltimore and is the founder of the Sherlockians of Baltimore, aka the SOB’s. His Investiture with TFG is The Bank of England. In January, 2019, he became a member of the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI) with the investiture of Bulldog Pin with Ruby Eyes.