The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet 

by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

In Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet", a banker makes a loan to a socially prominent client, who leaves the Beryl Coronet -- one of the most valuable public possessions in existence -- as security. The banker feels that he must not leave this precious piece in his personal safe at the bank, so he takes it home with him and is awoken in the night horrified to see his son with the coronet in his hands, apparently trying to bend it. The case against his son seems rather damning, yet Holmes is not convinced of his guilt.