"I say, Holmes, what school did you attend?"
"Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary."

Bravo, Holmes! And to Mr. Costello as well!

A prominent New York banker, eh? Am I correct in deducing a certain antiquarian sable?

Heh. It honestly had not occurred to me that the reference was to Mr. Pyne. My intention was that it was a reference to J.P. Morgan, Sr. (who was, partially, the model for Pyne), who had a notable collection of medieval art, and was a generous benefactor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the museum alluded to).

"The Sign of the Dove" takes place about 30 to 40 years before the events of "Sharp Words," in other words, between about 1892 and 1902. It's not clear that either this story takes place in quite the same universe as "Sharp Words," or if it does, what Pyne's position was at the time. Of course, the banker COULD be Henry von der Wald.

The notion of the Great Detective meeting the Great Organizing Spirit is one to ponder.

Which reminds me, must get going on "The Enchanted Hill."

I was figuring on toward the end of that window, yes. With a younger Pyne, but still embarked on his trajectory...

Von der Wald would be more likely to have things of that age the entire time...

And I think that roebuck was still in Russia, getting convinced of socialist principles somehow. (I thought Elves were supposed to be smarter than Lowfolk?) Kinda hard to arrange a meeting...

The 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, the Congress that saw the split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, was held partially in London in 1903; generally regarded near the tail end of Holmes' active career (not counting his coming out of retirement in The Last Bow). So it might be easier than you think to have Sergei Ivanovich giving the correct ideological analysis of Mrs. Hudson's tea.

(Mr. von der Wald) You are quite right, sir, that I would have seen originals of those kinds of vestments. Granted, during that time, I was living in Italy. (See my references my lovely mate -- well, my then-current mate -- in "The Red Network.") I also was in, shall we say, a different occupation. But the elemental point of your comment remains.

Heh. Forgot they were international at that point - safer in Britain than in Russia, for certain. Kinda like that window of time where a samurai could have sent Abraham Lincoln a fax...