collectibles – Page 6 – Inherited Values

Entertainment Memorabilia Auction

On June 24, 2012, Bonham’s will hold an Entertainment Memorabilia including Animation Art auction in Los Angeles, California. Among the items are original promotional paintings for films, movie star portraits, film scripts, and other items from silent and classic film history. Included are many items from the estate of Rock Hudson.

Some of the items up for bid came directly from Rock Hudson’s estate, which were left to one of his caretakers, Martin Flaherty, who runs Rock-Hudson-Estate-Collection.com.

Among the personal and professional items from the actor, there are many documents, including Rock Hudson’s birth certificate:

State of Illinois certificate of registration of birth for Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. born November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, county of Cook in the state of Illinois. The certificate was issued in 1926 and lists the surname of Hudson’s biological father who later abandoned the family during the Great Depression.

For me, the item that most catches my fancy is the red silk-lined, black wool opera cape with black velvet collar which was worn by Hudson in performances at his home theater.

If you are unable to attend the Bonham’s auction, you can register as an absentee bidder.

Items belonging to Flaherty which do not sell at auction will be placed for sale back on his website.

Antique Vampire Kits

A Rare and Unusual Vampire Slaying Kit goes up for auction on June 22, 2012, at Tennants Auctioneers:

[C]omprising a percussion cap pistol with octagonal steel barrel, foliate etched box lock and walnut bag butt, a steel bullet mould, a mallet and four oak stakes, a set of Rosary beads, three glass bottles (two labelled Holy Water and Holy Earth), a Book of Common Prayer dated 1857, all contained in a blue velvet lined mahogany casket with fitted lift-out tray, the inner cover set with a gilt metal and mahogany crucifix, the silver lock escutcheon in the form of a cross, 31cm by 23cm by 13cm

The BBC also notes the following details:

As well as the weaponry, the box holds a copy of the Book of Common Prayer from 1851 and a handwritten extract from the Bible which quotes Luke 19:27.

It reads: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

Prior to the kit being listed at the auction site, Oonagh Drage from Tennants Auctioneers said, “I’m not sure who will buy it as we are yet to put it on the internet. I know there are quite a few Americans who are interested in this kind of thing.”

Yup, we American are all about the vampire lore.

Drage credits Bram Stoker’s Dracula for, perhaps, inspiring such kits. But collectors today have a much longer line to whet their fantasies — and wet their pants. *wink* From Virginia Dare to the more recent Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, we even love to incorporate vampires into our American history.

Because of that, one must always consider the faking of such kits by assembling period items in a period box. I’m not in any position to inspect this kit, and I’m not disparaging its authenticity; but I’ve written about these vampire kits before and so must caution collectors about such general issues in this area of collecting.

Drage estimates this antique vampire killing kit to sell between $1800 and $3000; previous sets have sold for close to $15,000. Because we Americans love our vampire collectibles!

If you can’t make it to Leyburn, North Yorkshire, to bid, you can still bid on the 19th century vampire slaying kit; there’s live internet bidding on this item, and others, in Arms, Armour, Militaria & Ethnographica Auction at Tennants.

A Dickens Of A Big Birthday Celebration: Charles Turns 200

The world is celebrating Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday this year, and one of the many events includes a world tour, retracing the historic steps that Charles Dickens made during his famous American tours, by Gerald Charles Dickens, great great grandson of the author himself. Two days of the historic tour will be celebrations involving Vaillancourt Folk Art, makers of fine chalkware collectibles. (I interviewed Luke M. Vaillancourt, the son of founder & artist Judi Vaillancourt, back in 2009.)

On Friday, September 21, 2012, Gerald Charles Dickens will honor his great great grandfather by doing as Charles Dickens himself did in 1868: performing A Christmas Carol at the Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA. On on Saturday, September 22, 2012, there will be two performances at Vaillancourt Folk Art in Sutton, MA; at 2:00pm, The Republic of My Imagination and Oliver Twist, and at 7:00pm, A Child’s Journey with Dickens, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

I know this is a bit early — but it’s a pretty big deal for Dicken’s fans! Get more details and tickets here. And watch for news on more Vaillancourt Dickens’ Christmas items too.

Striking Legs!

More hot legs in the form of matches; this time, a vintage matchbook promoting an “all girl floor show” at a burlesque club.

Image via Burlesk As You Like It!.

Vintage Tee-Vee Howdy Doody Toys

When I first discovered this little plastic man with a movable mouth in an auction lot of winnings, I thought the was Uncle Sam or something because of his red, white, and blue coloring — and the hat. Well, he’s red, pinkish, and blue… And the hat wasn’t your typical Uncle Sam hat, but that’s what I thought. Until my mom schooled me that he was Mayor Phineas T. Bluster from the Howdy Doody Show.

Sometimes you’ll see these vintage plastic figures called “cake toppers” but while there’s nothing to stop anyone from using them on top of cakes, these are little plastic toy puppets made for children who were fans of Howdy Doody. They were early television show merchandising tie-ins from TeeVee, Kagran Corp.

According to one of the original point-of-sale display cards, there were five characters from this classic TV show: Mr. Buster, Clarabell, Howdy Doody, Princess Summerfall-Winterspring, and Dilly Dally.

The display card encourages kids to “Put On Your Own Puppet Show.” To make them talk, “simply jiggle the lever in back of his head.” That’s a bit less than Buffalo Bob Smith had to do. *wink*

Staying in character, Clarabell does not talk — instead, kids could blow his “musical” horn.

The toys stand about four inches tall and are made of plastic, not celluloid.

Additional Image Credits:

Original Tee Vee display card via 69ferrari69.

Photo of all five vintage Tee-Vee Howdy Doody toys by Kagran via PACKRAT-COLLECTIBLES130.

Inviting Yourself Inside

Pickers aren’t the only ones bold enough to invite themselves onto your property, into your homes; Jessica Saia was so charmed by the Painted Ladies (the Victorian houses around Alamo Square park you see in many shots of San Francisco, including TV’s Full House), that she sent letters to the folks living in them so she could get a look inside. One of them said, “Yes!” Here’s the story, complete with photos.

Syfy Channel Announces New Collectible Shows

Elyse Luray of History Detectives fame will have her own show on the the Syfy channel. The new series is named Collection Intervention and according to the press release she’ll be helping couples at odds with their overwhelming collections:

Collection Intervention follows Elyse Luray, a sharp and to-the-point collectibles expert as she helps couples who are divided over what to do with an overwhelming collection of memorabilia. Whether it’s a husband’s collection of mint-condition G.I. JOE action figures worth thousands of dollars or a girlfriend’s treasure trove of Star Wars movie posters, Elyse helps couples decide what’s worth keeping and what they can sell. For each couple, their new cash windfall will make their dream come true, whether it’s an engagement ring, a down payment for a home, or the honeymoon they never had. Production company: High Noon Entertainment. Executive producers: Pam Healey, Elizabeth Grizzle Voorhees, Jim Berger.

I’m not sure how I feel about the sound of that… Sounds like another show comparing collectors to hoarders, mocking us… But I’ll have to watch a few episodes when it arrives this fall to be sure.

Syfy has also announced another collecting show to air in 2013. This one, entitled Toy Traveler, features Shane Turgeon and sounds similar to the Travel Channel’s Toy Hunters with Jordan Hembrough, owner of Hollywood Heroes Collectibles.

Shane Turgeon, the Indiana Jones of toy collectors, travels to remote corners of the world to find the rarest and most valuable toys and collectibles. Whether it’s in an old toy warehouse in a remote Guatemalan town or a small swap meet in the Ukraine, Shane will go to all lengths to find the most unique and collectible toys. Production company: Jarrett Creative Group. Executive producers: Seth Jarrett, Julie Insogna Jarrett.

Related Syfy Channel shows: Hollywood Treasure and Haunted Collector.

Image Credits: Elyse Luray with Coca-Cola collector Allan Petretti on a 2006 episode of PBS’ History Detectives.

A Vintage Space Adventurer By Any Other Name…

Mr. Rock Space Adventurer from Another Planet.

Clearly this vintage action figure, which includes Ray Gun and Space Communicator, is a knock-off of Star Trek’s Spock. The pointy ears and slanted eyebrows give it away.

This vintage space age toy was made by Lincoln International, a New Zealand toy company. Fun Ho says that Lincoln International began in 1946, when Mr. Lincoln Laidlaw took over a Higgins and Clotworthy handbag frame company. (Lincoln Laidlaw is likely the son of Richard Laidlaw, the founder of Farmers Trading Company; and Lincoln also opened the Jon Jansen furniture shop.) By 1948, the first “Lincoln Toy” was made and the toy company went on to make and import many licensed — and unlicensed — toys, using the “Boy oh boy, a Lincoln Toy!” slogan. The toy company merged with or was bought-out in 1983 or 1984.

The toys made between the 1960’s and 1970’s are often considered the company’s “golden age” and the vintage space age theme toys by Lincoln remain quite popular with collectors today. Even though “Mr. Rock” is a knock-off, this vintage toy has great value — it’s so rare that, according to Mego Collector, one of these sold in 2007 for $5,556. More info available here.

Other vintage Lincoln toy info:

Lincoln may have used Wyn toy bodies for trucks and other vehicles.

Info on Lincoln and diecast Brentware aka Brentoys.

Collecting Little Tuppence and Posing Penny dolls.

Images from a 1967 or 1968 Lincoln International toy catalog.

Bid On Abraham Lincoln’s Hair

Also part of the Americana Signature Auction, is an antique photographic case containing a lock of Abraham Lincoln’s hair opposite an albumen portrait of the president.

Upon Lincoln’s death, apparently a number of locks of the President’s hair were removed as mourning keepsakes. This lock of Lincoln’s hair is approximate 3″ long and ranges in width from 1/2 to 1/8 inches. A small black bow has been added and the spine of the embossed leather case has been repaired with black tape. There’s “impressive” provenance for this historical auction offering as well. Heritage Auction’s estimate is $8,000 – $12,000.

The Americana Signature Auction will be held on May 12, 2012, in Dallas; absentee bidding ends May 11, 2012 at 10:00 PM CT.

Hidden Values In Antique Collecting & Genealogy In The News

Spending time with my collectibles is a huge part of why I collect — and I don’t mean the dusting! In fact, one of the reasons I blog is because I love the time to spend examining and researching each object. I truly believe this is a huge part of the value of collecting as a hobby.

Two recent news stories reminded me of this fact.

16th-century map of lost colony — 16th-Century Map of Lost Colony

The first is a matter of maps and historical mysteries… The British Museum’s recent re-examination of a 16th-century coastal map of the Tidewater coast of North Carolina has revealed hidden markings that may show what happened to the so-called American Lost Colony. While this colony was the second English settlement on the North Carolina coast, it was the first settlement to include civilians, including the legendary Virginia Dare, the granddaughter of the colony’s governor, John White. Virginia was born within weeks of their arrival to the settlement in 1587 — making Virginia Dare the first child of English descent born in the Americas.

Now, I’m not saying that all map collectors have a map of this magnitude; but even that vintage shell oil map may lead to a discovery, a road not taken, a connection you’ve not made before. Who knows what mysteries you might solve — or even find?

Speaking of connections, this next news story discusses how genealogy may help provide evidence that proves humans are continuing to evolve. Your family tree alone may not seem like much, but when combined with others, it provides scientific information:

“Studying evolution requires large sample sizes with individual-based data covering the entire lifespan of each born person,” said Dr Lummaa. “We need unbiased datasets that report the life events for everyone born. Because natural and sexual selection acts differently on different classes of individuals and across the life cycle, we needed to study selection with respect to these characteristics in order to understand how our species evolves.”

Doesn’t that all just inspire you to go antiquing, to organize those family records? It certainly makes me want to raise that bidding paddle!

Antique Smiling G.O.P. Elephant

Heritage’s Americana Signature Auction contains over 700 American history and political artifacts, among them a rare political pinback from the 1908 Taft & Sherman political campaign.

Called a jugate for the two side-by-side portraits of William Howard Taft and his running mate James Sherman, and called “Elephant Ears” for the portrait placement, this 1 and 1/4 inch in diameter celluloid pinback packs a visual-punch with its bright red and vivid yellow graphics.

The Taft & Sherman “Elephant Ears” Jugate, is among the most valuable of all the 1908 Taft-Sherman pins — not only due to age but a low production run. With it’s original Whitehead and Hoag back paper, this jugate has an auction estimate of $6,000 – $7,000.

The Americana Signature Auction will be held on May 12, 2012, in Dallas; absentee bidding ends May 11, 2012 at 10:00 PM CT.

Vintage Schiaparelli Stockings — Shocking!

Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, the joint retrospective of fashion opens today at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum.

Which means you can understand what a miracle it seemed to me to find not one, not two, but three pairs of vintage Schiaparelli stockings at a local garage sale this weekend! And for just 25 cents each! *Faint*

Actually, one pair isn’t stocking; they’re pantyhose… But still!

For those of you who don’t know, Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was an incredible Italian fashion designer. Her rival was Coco Chanel; she sold to Mae West and the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson; she created the big-shouldered suit of Marlene Dietrich; she designed costumes for over 30 films (partial list); she collaborated with Man Ray and Salvador Dalí. Whew!

I adore Schiaparelli designs — especially the lingerie, so the stockings would be thrilling and welcome finds anytime, but this was quite a timely find for vintage fashion items.

Here are more details on what I scored:

Supp-hose, sheerest, seamless, nylon & Lycra (Spandex) in Calypso, 905, made in USA. One unworn pair of stockings, with Schiaparelli signature script in shocking pink, in the box, with black paper (glossy on one side), pink tissue paper, and original care/instructions insert.

Sheer Agilon pantyhose in Coffee Bean, style 199. Package is still sealed.

And last, but not least, Girdle Stockings by Schiaparelli. “To wear with self-holding leg band girdles without hooks, snaps or fasteners.” (Also in Coffee Bean, #889; 100% nylon, made in USA.) Still sealed in the original wrapped package — I just love the die-cut window.

I date them all to the early 1960s. (My camera apparently suffered some issues reading the shocking pink, but all packages are Schiaparelli hot pink; sorry about that.)

While the Schiaparelli hosiery I found aren’t as stunning as these bouquet stockings, I’m still happy with the “Shocking” delight of finding them.

Nothing To Write Home About? Letters From WWII

In my post at Collectors Quest today, I share my disc-overy of WWII voice mail: audio letters sent during the war.

While I encourage you to read that history, I have two other items to share regarding that story.

First, in the January, 1946 issue of Audio Record (published by Audio Devices Inc., a manufacturer of blank discs used by the USO for the voice recordings), there was this cute story:

From a USO club in the South came the story of a man who made a special record for his family. His mother wrote back that when his pet dog heard the boy’s voice he sent up great bays of delight. So the soldier went back to the USO club ad made a whole recording just for his dog, Fido.

Since this is an industry publication, this heartwarming wartime story may be made up, simply propaganda — but it still works!

And that brings me to the very true fact stated by Letters on a Record Home, a documentary directed by John Kurash which focused on these Word War II recordings from the USO, Gem Blades, Pepsi and local radio stations:

At one point, over 25,000 letters on a record were sent home each month. Very few remain but what we have offers us insight into the lives of the soldiers and their families during the second world war. Most soldiers came back home to become part of the Greatest Generation. But not everyone comes home from war, not every soldier was able to keep their promise.

This short film is part of the GI Film Festival, and will be screened on Sunday, May 20, 2012.

A Question On Collecting Antique Photographs

My folks, Antiquips, recently listed this antique photograph of two ladies with their backs to the camera.

Aside from just being an odd pose (especially when photography was more of an event than it is today), and so a way to define or refine your photograph collection, does anyone know if the pose has any other significance?

See more antique photos with people posing with their backs to the camera here.

Collecting Is Like… Comfort Food

I just love this story of a college student who de-stresses from her college exams by going to antique stores.

I saw a young girl with long, brown hair sitting in a corner with a small teddy bear she had found in the store.

I saw myself in that little girl.

My father collected antiques and collectibles and would always bring my mother and I along on his trips to various antique stores.

For most of my childhood and some of my young adult life, I would spend more time than I would have liked sitting in the corner of big barns on the East Coast filled with antiques.

As a young girl, I couldn’t stand antique stores. Whenever my parents would wake me up to tell me we were going “antiquing,” I would beg them to let me stay at home.

It’s funny how something that I couldn’t stand growing up could now be such a comfort to me.

However aimlessly her shopping trip began, it struck just the right sense of comfort to calm her down enough for her studies. And how much better for her health than indulging in comfort food. *wink*

Here’s a photo of Margaret Baum, the college student, and Spartan Daily features editor, herself.

Vintage Tobacciana: The Smoking Cannon

This vintage ceramic ashtray is kinda kitschy-cool; when you place the light cigarette in its place, the smoke comes out of the cannon!

I just priced it and put in in the case at Fargo’s Antiques On Broadway.

The Top Three Online Content Curation Sites For Collectors

Most collectors are aware that they are curating their collections — or at least they should be! But now, there’s online curation, or more specifically, online content curation.

Unlike blogging or writing on the web (called “content creation”), content curation is the process of sorting through the created content on the web and presenting it to others. In the most simple terms, it’s rather like being the editor of your own magazine, picking the stories, images, and information you’d like to keep and/or share with others (unless you want to keep it private). Almost all curation sites include standard social networking features (being able to follow members and/or subscribe to curated collections) as well as allow you to connect and even sign-up easily via Facebook and Twitter.

While a lot of attention has been made of using digital curation for businesses and bloggers, collectors of antiques and vintage items will enjoy this as well. It’s a great way to organize information on what you collect, save links to resources, show off what you and your collecting friends have posted of your collections online, do some window shopping… Maybe drop a few hints… *wink*

Here are my favorite three sites for content curation for collectors of antiques & vintage collectibles:

The most well-known content curation site is Pinterest. While Pinterest is not the first of these content curation sites (far from it!), it has managed to capture a lot of media attention and an incredibly high number of users.

Pinterest is primarily image based, which works well for showing off pretty things, such as collectibles and DIY project ideas, but it isn’t necessarily suited well for articles and “how to”s. In fact, many Pinterest members go out of their way not to properly credit what’s shared, like Tumblr folks. This can be quite annoying for both those who have created content as well as those who want the information behind the photograph. Also, such little text also makes searching a bit more difficult.

However, Pinterest is rather easy to use, and allows for a rather unlimited number of collections or “pin boards” and probably has people you know there, making interacting easy. The site currently has you join a wait list rather than begin immediately. Typically, you only wait a day or two, even less if a friend invites you; but it does put a damper on one’s enthusiasm.

If your intent is to drive traffic to your own website, Pinterest leaves a bit to be desired as most people there for the pretty pictures — and once they’ve seen them on Pinterest, they aren’t as inclined to find out more. Pinterest does not show you any statistics on how many people have seen your pins or pinboards.

(This is me at Pinterest.)

Scoop.It has a great name which invokes what you are doing: You “scoop” content off the Internet and create pages which resemble little newspapers or magazines.

Since Scoop.It is focused on articles, you get to include far more text with your “scoop,” yet not give away the whole article, which just makes for better Internet friends. You also can add an image to your “scoop”, which is a nice visual when the article you are using doesn’t have one. And Scoop.It also has a suggestion option which allows you to suggest a link for another member to scoop onto their own topic. If your suggestion is used, you get a little link crediting you. This is a nice community feature that allows you to connect with other members and participate in topics past your own.

At the free level, you may have up to five collections, called “Topics.” Because you only have five free collections, you should think ahead of time and decide just what collections you want to focus on curating. If you collect a lot things, or do a lot of research, you probably want to go make each topic a bit broader, rather than being too specific on each one. Or you can pay to upgrade your service, which includes not only a larger number of topics but the option to use your own domain name. Unlike many other content curation sites, Scoop.It does not have a main page on which you can just watch the action of what other members are doing, so you’ll have to rely on the site’s search function to see what other topics you’ll want to subscribe to. And Scoop.It does not allow for you to have private topics.

Scoop.It is designed to push folks out to the original content sources, so even though finding topics and scoops is a bit more difficult, there is some traffic to be found here. Scoop.It‘s stats take some getting used to; paid members apparently get more information on stats and analytics than free users.

(This is me at Scoop.It.)

Now we get to my favorite content curation site: Snip.It. Like it sounds, you curate by “snipping” content from the web, making your own digital scrapbooks out of the articles and images others have produced — while giving the creators proper credit and encouraging folks to go visit the content creators website, blog, gallery, etc.

Why is Snip.It my favorite? Because it primarily focuses on article curation in ways that suit me best. Along with being able to have a rather unlimited number of collections (including private ones for research I don’t want to share yet), Snip.It highlights or features great collections on the site, making it easier to find collections to subscribe to and collectors to follow.

On the main page, the most recent “snips” from featured collections are shown, with the most recent at the top. And there are also specific categories (such as “Arts & Culture” and “History”) which contain featured collections, also with the most recent “snips” at the top. Since featured collections are selected by the folks working for Snip.It, real people are differentiating good curation from spammers who join and just want to promote junk. Because of this way of showcasing good snipped content and good snippers, I’ve been able to find a number of great resources for reading, researching — and maybe even collecting, who knows? *wink*

This is the site I’ve also had the most conversations with other members, via comments. I like that.

Snip.It is created with readers and snippers in mind, and drives people to the curated content. Even though I’ve been participating in Snip.It the least amount of time, I’ve seen the most about of traffic to my sites from it. Snip.It does offer stats on how often your collections are viewed; additional, more in depth, stats will be available soon.

(This is me at Snip.It.)

Whichever online curation site you choose, I’m sure you’ll quickly find yourself enjoying it — just don’t spend so much time online that you forget to go to garage sales, flea markets and auctions! *wink*

Have you found any good content curation sites? Please do share in the comments!

Join The International Bookmark Collectors Exchange

LZ_Daily_Chronicle antique bookmark — Antique Bookmark

Bookmark collectors may wish to take note of this list of bookmark collectors who are interested in trading bookmarks — worldwide!

Send an email to mail@miragebookmark.ch to register in the lists below…
To register, we need your full address, your email address and a personal message from you.
Due to security reasons, we’ll publish only the town and country of your residence.

Currently they have 183 collectors from 36 different countries on the list.

Note that you can also look for collectors to trade with by country too.

To see the latest additions to the exchange list, just scroll down past the offer to purchase 50 bookmarks.

Image from The Art of Bookmark Exhibition.

Classic Car Prices Music To Milhous Brothers’ Ears

Last month The Milhous Collection went up for auction, with the two days of bidding on the 550 lots coming in just shy of the auction estimate of $40 million, reaching $38.3 million in sales.

The huge custom-build merry-go-round, considered the collection’s center piece, reached the estimated price range of old $1,000,000 – $1,500,000, selling for nearly $1.3 million. I think at that price, the piece deserves to be called a carousel.

While The Milhous Collection was most noted for its world-class vintage and antique instruments — ornately decorated orchestrions, theatre organs, and other mechanical musical instruments, the bids for these pieces came in lower than anticipated. Sadly, of the eight automated musical instruments with estimates of $1 million (or more), only three obtained bids of seven figures.

Lest you think the economics of space was on the minds of bidders, you should note that most of the 30 automobiles in the collection sold at or above their auction estimates. Among the high-horsepower Brass era cars, Indianapolis racing cars, and coachbuilt classics, it was the 1912 Oldsmobile Limited which fetched the highest price; as the only known surviving car of the model, it more than doubled its estimate, selling for $3.3 million.

Perhaps there’s always room for another classic car in the heated garage, but antique mechanical music pieces? Not-so-much.

Images via RM Auctions.

The Grimm Realities Of Antique & Vintage Watches

The Wall Street Journal reports on the “attractive proposition” vintage watches hold for investors, especially when compared to other alternative investments.

Wine, for example, needs special care and can spoil. To enjoy it, it must be consumed. Vintage cars need space and maintenance. Real estate fluctuates too wildly. But watches? They take up no space, and servicing—while subject to long waiting times—is less of a problem than, say, restoring a 1930s Delage motor car. In the U.K., investing in antique clocks has been cited as a good way to avoid paying capital-gains tax. Because clocks are deemed a “wasting asset,” they are not taxed on their capital appreciation. But best of all, watch values have been on an upward trajectory for the past 25 years.

Perhaps this is what’s behind the resurgence in independent artisan watchmakers?

However, fine antique watches remained threatened by the high prices for gold, as antique pocket watches and wristwatches continue to be melted down for their weight and value in gold. Those are the grim realities of our times.

The Grimm reality of old timepieces, however, is all about Eddie Monroe. On NBC’s Friday night TV series, Grimm, Silas Weir Mitchell plays Monroe, a Blutbad — a human who can transform into a wolf. He keeps his wolfish nature hidden (and at bay) with his rather nerdy exterior — not just the usual “bookish” sort, Monroe plays chello, performs clock and watch repair, and collects so many antique and vintage things that I often find myself searching the frames of the show to look at all his cool stuff. The home (set?) was even featured in Oregon Home, so I must not be alone in my fascination.