About TFG
Alphabetical Listing of Members
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Chronological Listing of Members
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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.