A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars
Numismatists Do Not Fear Change
Sherlock Holmes as sketched by Sidney Paget, considered the master Holmes portraitist. We all know who Sherlock Holmes was, the greatest detective of Victorian England in all of literature. I’ll be willing to bet that most readers of this column have also read some, if not all. of the stories that are called by fans… Continue Reading
“The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents.” – The Adventure of The Priory School (PRIO) London in 1894, when Sherlock Holmes returned from his incognito foreign journeying, was enjoying the Golden Age of British Imperial investment and expansion, bringing an enormous accretion of wealth to the Capital City of the Empire.… Continue Reading
“… my agent there has sent me this advertisement from a local paper.” – The Adventure of The Three Garridebs (3GAR) Several months back, we published a post about the Pobjoy Mint’s 1994 press release announcing the Return of Sherlock Holmes series of coins for Gibraltar. Recently, we came across the above Pobjoy Mint advertisement from… Continue Reading
“Three bob and a tanner for tickets.” – The Sign of The Four (SIGN) In response to our previous discourse concerning the intricacies of Victorian currency (“So, how much is a Quid, a Crown, and a Bob?; The Sherlockian Times: Fall 1993) we received a welcomed epistle from that most erudite Northern Musgraver Mr. John Hall… Continue Reading
“Give up a hundred thousand quid?” – The Adventure of The Mazarin Stone (MAZA) We, as modern American readers, have always had some problem in translating the British monetary system of the Victorian era into something more tangible, such as purchasing power. One who is not completely familiar with the monetary system of the time… Continue Reading
“… But you’ll always find scratches round a keyhole.” – The Adventure of the Golden Pince Nez (GOLD) Reprinted from the December 1987 issue of The Numismatist In honor of the centennial of the introduction of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Marika Somogyi has added her name to the list of Sherlockian interpreters with an… Continue Reading
“The stage lost a fine actor…” – A Scandal In Bohemia (SCAN) Sir Christopher Lee died, earlier this week, at the age of 93. Lee would be involved in 5 Holmesian films, playing 3 different characters. In the 1959 film, Hound of the Baskervilles, Lee would play Sir Henry Baskerville. Three years later, Lee would play… Continue Reading
“The campaign brought honours and promotion to many …” – A Study In Scarlet (STUD) In A Study In Scarlet, we learn that Dr. Watson was wounded during the Battle of Maiwand. Since Watson was a participant in the Second Anglo – Afghan War, he would have received the Afghanistan Campaign medal. The Afghanistan Medal is… Continue Reading
“… he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the solar system.” – A Study In Scarlet (STUD) Watson was amazed that Holmes did not know or care that the earth revolved around the sun. Holmes went on to comment that ‘you say that we go round the sun. If we went… Continue Reading
“… Here are your wages.’ He handed each of them a shilling.” – A Study In Scarlet (STUD) The above advertisement comes from the June 1987 issue of The Baker Street Journal (page 100, to be exact). A New York based company, I/R Miniatures, was selling replicas of the three different designs of the shillings issued during… Continue Reading