A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars
Numismatists Do Not Fear Change
“No living man could tell a Prescott from a Bank of England …” – The Adventure of the Three Garridebs (3GAR) A circa 1890 photograph of the Bank of England by George Washington Wilson. There are only two mentions of the Bank of England thoughout the 60 stories of the Canon – in The Dancing Men… Continue Reading
“‘Capital!’ cried the inspector. ‘Capital!’” – The Adventure of the Dancing Men (DANC) In 1971, Chicago’s Harris Trust and Savings Bank launched an advertising campaign for their capital planning services. One advertisement featured a color illustration of a coin depicting Sherlock Holmes. The advertisement pictured above appeared in the May 1971 issue of Fortune. Thanks to Morgan… Continue Reading
“I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season.” – The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (BLUE) Happy Holidays! For those of our readers, who get the email blasts alerting them to new posts being published on the site, we will… Continue Reading
“The treasure is lost” – The Sign of the Four (FOUR) Millions of dollars of unclaimed property reside in abandoned safe deposit boxes, lost stock certificates, uncashed checks and other items turned over to state and provincal governments in an attempt to reunite items with their proper owners. In a few cases, the image of… Continue Reading
“… I emerged with a little chocolate…” – The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane (LION) Last August, we published a HolmeWork assignment asking for help in learning more about the chocolate coins that are sold at the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street. We had a picture of the front (or obverse) of the chocolate coin,… Continue Reading
“… something precious, something which he could not bear to part with, had been left behind.” -The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (WIST) Pathtags are a single-sided custom metal tag about the size and weight of a U.S. Quarter Dollar coin. These are generally considered to a signature item to be traded with others, often in geocaching or… Continue Reading
“… a premature examination of accounts exposed my deficit.” – The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (GLOR) This editorial cartoon by Sam Rawls first appeared in the February 27, 1985 edition of The Atlanta Constitution. It’s interesting to see how Holmes and Watson have been worked into editorial cartoons over the years – I have two in… Continue Reading
“… I shall order you a cup of hot coffee …” – The Adventure of the Speckled Band (SPEC) In today’s modern age, it is becoming more common for folks to not carry any cash with them. We’ve done numerous posts on this site about prepaid phone cards. With marketing efforts, such as gift or reward cards,… Continue Reading
“I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season.” – The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (BLUE) We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday season to you and your families.… Continue Reading
“We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources, and borrowed, for that purpose, thirty thousand Napoleons from the Bank of France.” – The Red-Headed League (REDH) In this month’s story of The Red-Headed League, the City & Suburban Bank had increased their reserves by borrowing 30,000 gold Napoleons from the Bank of France. In… Continue Reading