Re: [AMIA-L] Yes, it really does happen.....

[Charles Hopkins <ch@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear Jim:

This story sounds just a little too good to be true to me.  Are you sure
this gentleman wasn't playing an April Fool's trick on you?

Charles Hopkins
Senior Administrator, Planning and Special Projects
UCLA Film and Television Archive
1015 No. Cahuenga Blvd.
Hollywood CA  90038
ch@xxxxxxxx <mailto:ch@xxxxxxxx>


-----Original Message-----
From: Association of Moving Image Archivists
[mailto:AMIA-L@xxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of James Lindner
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 3:02 PM
To: AMIA-L@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AMIA-L] Yes, it really does happen.....


Last evening I was having dinner at a Japanese Restaurant with my
daughter - there was another person sitting at the Sushi Bar and we
started to chat. I told him what I did - and he said that his
grandfather had an interest in cartoons and that his basement had a
bunch of old cartoon junk that was left to him - and he was going to
throw it out. I asked him what he had - he mentioned a 16mm print of
"Steamboat Willie" but that did not interest me much, it is what else he
said that caught my attention. He said that there were many flat boxes
that held the pictures that were in the cartoon - hmmmm. I asked him
what he meant - and he said that his grandfather was eccentric and sort
of the butt of family jokes because he spent all his money on his
collection of this junk in boxes. His Grandfather died in 1968. He
specifically was laughed at by his wife for buying a dehumidifier for
the basement for his cartoon junk ( so grandfather knew exactly what he
was collecting and its value but NEVER told anyone in the family - no
one knew till yesterday night). I asked him more about the stuff in
boxes - and he said some of them were mickey mouse, but they weren't
really because it did not look like him, much skinnier and they were all
black and white. Now I was really getting interested. This person did
not think that they were worth anything because they were not in color -
and he went into an animation art shop and the ones he saw were all in
color and cost $200... he fitured - since his were all in Black and
White they worth anything, and he was going to throw them out - he had
already thrown some out over the years. It seems the piles of them took
up allot of room.

Well by the end of dinner it became obvious (to me at least) that
grandfather was no dummy. This guy has around 100 cels that are
original, many of them Disney. I have not seen any of them, he said he
would send me a picture from his digital camera - but I CAN tell you
that he was a very motivated person after dinner. This could be a major
find. They have been kept in pristine condition in these boxes, and also
have documentation with them - I figure that they might go for more then
$10k each at auction. And they were one step away from the dump. If we
did not just happen to meet at the restaurant they would have been there
for sure. I believe that Grandpa definitely had the last laugh.

I have heard stories like this over the years, and I have seen episodes
of Antique Roadshow too - but no one ever had stuff worth a Million $.
This guy won a lottery ticket over dinner. I gave him my email address -
I am not sure if he thinks I was playing an April Fools joke on him. I
assured him I wasn't - Amazing.

James Lindner
Managing Member

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