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A heartwarming story out of Edmonton this week centres around a rare animation cel from a Disney classic.
Recently, the owner of an antique shop in the city was surprised to learn that a framed Bambi illustration brought into his shop by a local homeless man was worth thousands.
In September, Alexander Archbold befriended a homeless man who brought the drawing in a tattered dirty frame into his antique shop Curosity Inc.
“I thought, well, it’s Bambi. I can probably clean it up,” Archbold recalled Friday.
After paying $20 for the find, he took the picture out of the frame and quickly realized it was valuable.
On the reverse side of the illustration was a certificate affirming it was an authentic 1937 animation cel from the classic Disney movie.
“I just thought oh my goodness. It’s the real thing and it’s worth a lot more than I thought it was. And I have to do something to help this guy out.”
The cel has sold on eBay for $3,700, after which Archbold made it his mission to track down Adam to give him his share of the profits.
Despite his efforts, Archbold could not find Adam on the streets for nearly a month, until earlier this week when Adam walked back into Curiosity Inc.
Adam was given $1,600 for the cel by Archbold, who also helped the homeless man reactivate his old bank account.
According to Archbold, the 38-year-old became homeless after falling into a deep depression that led to him losing his job as a drywaller along with his wife and three children leaving for Ontario.
Adam also told him that he had tried to sell the Bambi drawing at a few other shops before he went to Archbold’s store.
“They just told him to leave because, he said, as a street person they don’t take you seriously,” said Archbold.
“I got the impression that he just really didn’t feel like a person. And that just really made me sad.”
Archbold is now trying to help Adam get to Ontario to see his family, setting up a GoFundMe, which had raised $5,200 by Friday afternoon.
With files from the Canadian Press.
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