Irregular Postings on Coin Collecting & Numismatics - Both Canonical & Conanical

A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars

Numismatists Do Not Fear Change

Category Archives: United Kingdom

December HolmeWork Assignment: Conan Doyle and the Mystery of the Vanishing Football Cup

December HolmeWork Assignment: Conan Doyle and the Mystery of the Vanishing Football Cup

Editor’s Note:  The following story appeared in the November 11, 2011 issue of the Scottish newspaper The Southern Reporter. While the story focuses on a missing football trophy, I picked up the reference to the medals in the story.  Has anyone seen these medals from the Doyle Cup for 1912-13 or for, that matter, any other… Continue Reading

Pocket Change of BBC’s Sherlock – Today’s Money of the United Kingdom

Pocket Change of BBC’s Sherlock – Today’s Money of the United Kingdom

“Have you any change in your pocket?” – The Adventure of The Dying Detective (DYIN) One of our first posts was Dennis Nowicki’s excellent Coins of The Canon, which featured a review of Queen Victoria’s coinage mentioned in the original Sherlock Holmes stories.  To date, there have been 9 episodes of BBC’s Sherlock. While there have been limited… Continue Reading

The Case of the Winthrop Legend – November 29, 1954

The Case of the Winthrop Legend – November 29, 1954

In 1954, Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford would star as Holmes and Watson in 39 episodes of a syndicated Sherlock Holmes television series. The 30 minute episodes were produced by Sheldon Reynolds, who would later do another Holmes series, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, in 1980 and would reuse many of the same episodes. Many of… Continue Reading

British Royal Mint Reveals Plans For Fifth Portrait Of Queen Elizabeth II

British Royal Mint Reveals Plans For Fifth Portrait Of Queen Elizabeth II

“It was a queenly presence – tall, graceful, and intensely womanly.” – The Adventure of The Second Stain (SECO) From the British Royal Mint’s November 6, 2014 press release: The Royal Mint has today confirmed that it will be ‘all change’ for UK coinage next year when the definitive portrait of Her Majesty The Queen… Continue Reading

November HolmeWork Assignment: Sherlock Holmes Granada Studios Tour Token?

November HolmeWork Assignment: Sherlock Holmes Granada Studios Tour Token?

Today would have been actor Jeremy Brett’s 81st birthday and that inspires this month’s HolmeWork assignment – where we ask for your help in solving a question. Brett is most remembered for his role of Sherlock Holmes in the 41 episodes of the Granada TV series that originally aired from 1984 through 1994. He would… Continue Reading

Glittering Golden Guineas (1951)

Glittering Golden Guineas (1951)

Editor’s Note: This article by noted Holmesian, Jay Finley Christ, is reprinted from The Numismatist, Vol. 64, No. 10 (October 1951), pp. 1103-05. I would claim that this was the first paper published with Sherlock Holmes – numismatic connections. Glittering Gold Guineas by Jay Finley Christ There is at least a spark of numismatic interest in two… Continue Reading

United Kingdom issues 2014 World War I Commemorative Coins

United Kingdom issues 2014 World War I Commemorative Coins

“It was nine o’clock at night upon the second of August – the most terrible August in the history of the world.” – His Last Bow (LAST) Published in September 1917 in Strand Magazine, LAST is unusual in the 60 stories of the Canon – the narration is in the third person, not, as usual, by Dr.… Continue Reading

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mystery of the Lost Bag of Golden Coins (2012)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mystery of the Lost Bag of Golden Coins (2012)

THE MYSTERY of the missing bag of gold was a case over which Sherlock Holmes might have pondered with the aid of his violin, his hypodermic syringe, and a couple of pipes of the strongest tobacco. And, of course, the support of the ever-faithful Dr Watson. But this was a mystery which the famous detective… Continue Reading

Coins of the Canon – The Money of Late Victorian England (2008)

Coins of the Canon – The Money of Late Victorian England (2008)

Queen Victoria ruled Great Britain from 1837 until her death in 1901. During the 64 years of her reign, Britain turned to the remote parts of the world and established a colonial empire of such extent and prosperity that the world has never seen its like. Over the years of her reign, the bust of… Continue Reading