Hello Gentlemen. I have a question for you all. Probably a silly question to you all. Lately I've been reading alot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and I have been wondering if the coin referred to as the Sovereign is still in use as common currency in England today?
Thank you,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_%28British_coin%29

 

In short, they are like silver dollars (but worth a lot more). They have a nominal value; however they cost a lot more!

It's about £500 for a new sovereign:

http://www.royalmint.com/shop/The_2013_UK_Gold_Proof_Sovereign

The modern one pound coin, not being gold, gets none of the respect a sovereign from Sherlock Holmes would.  As a matter of fact, 2-3% of ALL pound coins are fakes.  I thought that was an exaggeration, till I bought 120 or so coins (at a very good rate) from a local dealer.  I carefully looked at all of them, there were 2 definite fakes (legend and reverse mismatch), one possible fake.  In reality nobody looks at them, and the fakes work in coin machines.