Challenge: Post the coins mentioned in Sherlock Holmes stories
pendragon1998
Posts: 2,070 ✭✭✭
A couple of years ago, I went on a Holmes kick and read all of the short stories and novels about Sherlock Holmes. In most of the stories, Holmes or Watson end up using or referring to the coinage of the era for one reason or another. I was recently thinking it might be fun to see the coins that would have passed their hands.
Below, I've taken some quotes from one of the short story collections: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Each quote mentions coins.
The challenge: post images of the coins mentioned in Sherlock Holmes stories. I invite anyone who's interested to check out Project Gutenberg and find more references to coins in Holmes stories, then post them here and post an image of the coin they refer to. All the stores are out of copyright; Just entere "Doyle" in the authors box and "Holmes" in the title words box - they should pop right up.
P.S. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was released in 1894.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure I: Silver Blaze
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"As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand."
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure II: The Yellow Face
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"Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and sixpence. Now it has, you see, been twice mended, once in the wooden stem and once in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you observe, with silver bands, must have cost more than the pipe did originally. The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money."
"Anything else?" I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in his hand, and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way.
He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as a professor might who was lecturing on a bone.
"Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest," said he. "Nothing has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces. The indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very important. The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with an excellent set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need to practise economy."
My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw that he coc'ked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.
"You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling pipe," said I. "This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce," Holmes answered, knocking a little out on his palm. "As he might get an excellent smoke for half the price, he has no need to practise economy."
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure V: The Musgrave Ritual
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"'These are coins of Charles the First,' said he,
holding out the few which had been in the box; 'you
see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual."
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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure VIII: The Resident Patient
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Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into the consulting-room, examined the books, put down five and three-pence for every guinea that I had earned, and carried the rest off to the strong-box in his own room.
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Below, I've taken some quotes from one of the short story collections: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Each quote mentions coins.
The challenge: post images of the coins mentioned in Sherlock Holmes stories. I invite anyone who's interested to check out Project Gutenberg and find more references to coins in Holmes stories, then post them here and post an image of the coin they refer to. All the stores are out of copyright; Just entere "Doyle" in the authors box and "Holmes" in the title words box - they should pop right up.
P.S. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was released in 1894.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure I: Silver Blaze
================================================================================
"As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand."
================================================================================
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure II: The Yellow Face
================================================================================
"Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and sixpence. Now it has, you see, been twice mended, once in the wooden stem and once in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you observe, with silver bands, must have cost more than the pipe did originally. The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money."
"Anything else?" I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in his hand, and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way.
He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as a professor might who was lecturing on a bone.
"Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest," said he. "Nothing has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces. The indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very important. The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with an excellent set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need to practise economy."
My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw that he coc'ked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.
"You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling pipe," said I. "This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce," Holmes answered, knocking a little out on his palm. "As he might get an excellent smoke for half the price, he has no need to practise economy."
================================================================================
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure V: The Musgrave Ritual
================================================================================
"'These are coins of Charles the First,' said he,
holding out the few which had been in the box; 'you
see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual."
================================================================================
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Adventure VIII: The Resident Patient
================================================================================
Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into the consulting-room, examined the books, put down five and three-pence for every guinea that I had earned, and carried the rest off to the strong-box in his own room.
================================================================================
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Comments
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
<< <i>"The old scale of pay, and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. Here's a day in advance. Now off you go!" He handed them a shilling each, and away they buzzed down the stairs, and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street" >>
8 Reales Madness Collection
(All credit for the coins and photo to Beeker I of Utah at http://www.english-hammered-coins.com.)
Proud (but humbled) "You Suck" Designee, February 2010.
8 Reales Madness Collection
<< <i>"...though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do you think they found in the pockets?" "I cannot imagine." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with pennies and half-pennies - 421 pennies and 270 half-pennies..." >>
8 Reales Madness Collection