A homeless man found rare artwork from Disney's 'Bambi' in a trash bin. When it sold for $3,700, the seller tracked him down to split the proceeds

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by Sariel007
image for A homeless man found rare artwork from Disney's 'Bambi' in a trash bin. When it sold for $3,700, the seller tracked him down to split the proceeds

(CNN) The homeless man found a ratty picture of Bambi, the Disney character, in a trash bin and brought it to antique dealer Alexander Archbold to get a few bucks.

The men had made similar transactions before, and Archbold -- who owns the Curiosity Inc. store in Edmonton, Canada -- is generally quick with his appraisals. But this one was different.

At first Archbold thought he had bought a replica of an animation cel from the 1980s or 1990s. He thought if he removed the broken frame and cleaned it up, the picture might fetch $80 to $100.

He paid the homeless man, Adam Gillian, $20 for it.

But when he it took it out of the frame and flipped it over, Archbold discovered an old certificate of authenticity. Even more surprising: It had a copyright date of 1937. "Bambi" hit theaters in 1942.

Dirkthehammer on November 21st, 2018 at 17:04 UTC »

I know the store owner here! I can confirm he is an amazing guy. He quit his long time career in retail a few years back to open up this antique/curiosities shop because it is what he loves. He travels around the province and country to barn yards and more to make great finds, and restores old cars on the side too!

PaidToBeRedditing on November 21st, 2018 at 15:32 UTC »

For anyone here as confused as me: the guy sold the artwork to a pawn shop, and the owner sold it then tracked the guy down.

fuegofosho on November 21st, 2018 at 15:11 UTC »

I really wanna say "Simpsons did it first", but it doesn't line up exactly with Chester J Lampwick. Either way, great story!