Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and other characters created by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, have been immortalized … in silver. The Sberbank of Russia has issued commemoration coins with images of the characters.
The image was taken from Russia's screen version of novels about the famous detective. Directed by Igor Maslennikov, it is considered to be one of the most successful screen versions in the world. All in all, 8,000 copies of coin sets were minted in New Zealand, as Sberbank has no rights to do this. The design and the original case was also developed there. The sets with par value of 2 New Zealand dollars can already be bought throughout Russia for around $ US 250. The coins have been also put on sale on New Zealand internet sites.