This man sold a picture for $20, little did he know it was worth a fortune

Alex Archbold is an antique shop owner who lives in Edmonton, Canada. There is a homeless man named Adam Gillian who comes into his shop rather regularly to sell items he finds when scavenging trash cans in the hopes of getting some income for food. During one of those times, Adam came into Alex’s shop and sold a Disney print he had found. Adam got $20 for the print, but it was afterward that Alex realized that this print is far more valuable than either one of them initially thought. It was then that Alex started searching for Adam on the streets to try and bring him in and tell him that the print he found was not what he thought it was. Finding Adam was proving to be harder, and in the area that they both live in the temperatures plummet in the winter, making it even harder to find someone. Being homeless means that Adam would have to find shelter in order to keep himself warm and safe for the night, easier said than done.

Spiral

Adam had originally come from Stratford, Ontario. He moved to Edmonton to remain closer to his family. Upon moving to Edmonton, Adam worked as a drywall laborer. Soon, however, he would lose that job and sadly fall on very difficult times.

After losing his job, Adam spiraled into a depression so bad that three out of his four children were taken into the foster care system, his marriage end and his lack of income putting him out of his own home.

Homeless

This is how Adam became homeless. At times, Adam would be lucky enough to stay on a friend’s couch or at 24-hour diners, but other times he was out in the city fending for himself. It was during the years on the streets that he started “binning”. Adam would go through trash bins and dumpsters to find whatever could be considered valuable enough to sell.

On the street, Adam got to know other homeless individuals who went binning as well and got to know them well enough to go binning together and split the funds that they had gotten from their finds.

Finds

You would be amazed at what people would throw out. The money Adam would make was not enough for him to find shelter, but it would be enough to feed himself and the fine line of going through a day without food would rest upon his daily finds.

Selling the finds that he found was the way that Adam initially got familiar with Curiosity Inc., Alex’s shop. He heard about the shop from a fellow friend on the street and decided to go there and sell his “goods”, this would be the beginning of a road to a changed life.

Unique discovery

On one of the many dumpster dives that Adam went on, he discovered something unique. On a September day in 2018, Adam found an old Disney print. The print showed a scene from the famous animated Disney film Bambi. Adam took the find to several shops trying to sell it, but none of them took him up on his offer.

Most of the owners did not want Adam in their shop, to begin with. Adam took his find eventually to Alex’s shop, Curiosity Inc. The other shop owners did not realize what they had just missed out on due to their own prejudice.

Alex

Adam walked into Curiosity Inc. to the friendly face of Alex Archbold. Alex is the owner of the shop and a father of three. He describes himself as a self-made man who is always on the hunt for interesting antiques and exploring new spaces and places.

When Adam stepped into Alex’s shop it was not the first time he had met Alex. The two had met over the course of the years as Adam had gone out within the community around his shop and had also been working when other binners have come in to sell their findings.

Bambi

When Adam brought the print into Alex’s shop, it was Alex who offered him $20 for the print since he knew it could turn a profit being a Disney item. He did not look too closely at it at that moment.

However, after Adam left the shop, Alex took the print out of the frame and saw that there was a certificate of authenticity attached to the back. What was thought to be a print was a handmade piece of art.

Stamp

In addition to the certificate, there was a stamp on the back dating back to 1937, which was five years after the film’s opening. This fact made the piece of art much more valuable.

Alex put the piece of art on eBay, where it sold for almost $2,800. However, once Alex found out the real worth, he knew he had to find Adam as it was not right to keep that kind of money for himself when he knew Adam could really use it.

Tracking Adam down

Being homeless, Adam did not exactly have an address, which made the search from him quite interesting. Alex uploaded videos to his YouTube channel of him searching for Adam. Alex had a very hard time tracking Adam down. Knowing that Adam was a binner, he searched dumpsters everywhere.

For two weeks, Alex searched for Adam coming up empty each time. One day, Adam came back to Alex’s shop. It was then that Alex scheduled a time for Adam to come back to the shop.

Inspiration

Alex wanted to film his time with Adam and him telling the man that his print was far more valuable than he ever thought. Prior to his interview with Adam, Alex revealed that he himself knew what it was like to be homeless as his mother and siblings had a hard time when they were younger.

It was his own experience in treasure hunting and selling as a kid that gave him the inspiration to open his shop.

Interview

Alex used to dig in people’s basements and garages in order to discover interesting finds that could possibly bring in some money for him and his family. He can relate to Adam so much in that he essentially did the very same thing that he was doing.

When Adam came into Alex’s shop the next day for the interview, he started out by asking him questions about his history and how he got to where he is today.

Thrown away treasures

Soon after the conversation and recording started, Alex started asking Adam about the greatest items he had found. Adam thought about it and then answered – loose change, a lot of coins and dollar bills that somehow found their way into the dumpster, whether by accident or not.

Another memorable find was a pocket watch that looked old to him and that he was very impressed with. Adam had also found thrown away jewelry and gold.

Serious jackpot

There was one time that Adam found $300 worth of pre-1968 silver coins. However, the true find was done by one of Adam’s friends. He explained that one day he and his friend were digging through items in a dumpster that contained items from an apartment when his friend found a box that contained over $2,000 in it.

Now that is one serious jackpot to find when you are without a home and every dollar counts.

Envelope

Adam’s friend gave him a bit of the money he had found, which moved him to also want to do something like that in the future for someone. He has gone by that philosophy when he could – sharing what he had when he could.

Little did Adam know that Alex had one serious surprise in store for him when he walked into Alex’s shop that morning. As the YouTube scene shows, Alex hands Alex an envelope…

Generosity

Within the clip, Alex tells Adam that the Bambi print sold for much more than either one of them thought. He then proceeds to hand Adam an envelope. Alex then explains to Adam that the envelope contains $1,600.35.

Needless to say, Adam was stunned to learn that the money was his and even offered to pay for dinner after the recording took place. Adam’s generosity only grows the more money he seems to find.

Halfsies

Alex continued by telling Adam that he did not feel right keeping the full profit from the print as he knew that Adam needed the money and that he had no idea that the print was worth as much as it was.

Throughout the video you can see Adam being pretty quiet, he was still very surprised at Alex’s kind-heartedness and all around good nature. He was moved to practical tears by his good fortune, after years of hardship.

Wait, there’s more

As if this was not enough, Alex wanted to do more for Adam. He wanted his permission to open a GoFundMe page to help him get back on his feet; Adam said it was okay with him. Alex set it all up with a $10,000 goal.

Incredibly, within a 3-day period, the goal was reached. The end amount that was raised was a whopping $18,000. The media got wind of the story and reached out to Alex.

Heroes

Alex was then asked what he did with his half of the money from the print, he said that he used it to put Adam up in a hotel until his GoFundMe money was available and he was able to get moving on his own.

He bought him some new clothes too, as well as made sure that he never went hungry again. See, not all heroes wear capes and Alex Archbold is one serious hero.