A sovereign was a gold coin worth one pound (20 shillings). The purchasing power of one pound in Holmes's time, about 1895, was approximately the same as $100 US today. Chris Redmond www.sherlockian.net
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Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was referring to Adam Worth, one of the real life models of Moriarty. The character of Moriarty as Holmes' greatest enemy was introduced primarily as a narrative device to enable Conan Doyle to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and only featured directly in two of the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, in more recent derivative work he is often given a greater prominence and treated as Holmes' primary antagonist.But as we know, Holmes survived his fall from the waterfall - yay!"At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise upon the binomial theorem which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it, he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him." -- Sherlock Holmes, 'The Final Problem'
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Widely considered to be the first true example of a supervillain, Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime" and he is also the primary antagonist of the the entire franchise. Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was referring to Adam Worth, a real life model for Moriarty.Professor Moriarty was Sherlock Holmes' nemesis. The only enemy that he could not beat. They were described as equals in skill and wits.
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'The Red-Headed League' probably took place in 1890, and the gold sovereign was equivalent to 1 British pound at that time, which, in turn, was worth about $4 US. Inflation would make the sovereign's buying power about $100 in today's money.
Thirty-Seven Dollars and 50 cents.