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.