Last year, a distributor of rare and antique films went out of business in Omaha. Before they did, though, they held an auction for their remaining items. Gary Huggins, who lives in Kansas City, thought it’d be worth the drive to check it out. He turned out to be right, but he never would have guessed that it’d be because he’d find a lost silent film!

“It was the best 20 I’ve ever invested, for sure,” Gary says.

Back at home, Gary used his projector to find out what all he bought. This is when he discovered The Pill Pounder starring the one and only Clara Bow. According to her biographer, David Stenn, she was the most popular film star of the late 1920s.

Because film strips used to be made with nitrate, an unstable and combustible chemical, it’s a miracle it’s still in good condition. What might be just as shocking, though, is the fact that this is the only copy known to exist.

Kansas City Man Finds Lost Silent Film Starring Clara Bow

Gary came to realize this as he searched for folks talking about the film online… and got nothing. Thankfully, he was able to find the perfect person to sell this treasure to: David.

“When someone said to me, ‘Would you be interested in a print of The Pill Pounder?’ I assumed they were making fun of me because I thought, ‘Would I be interested? It would be a miracle,’ and it is a miracle,” David says.

The film couldn’t have been discovered at a better time. Just this year, Taylor Swift announced her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department. The very last song on the track list is Clara Bow.

Now, fans of silent films, Clara Bow, and Taylor Swift alike can watch The Pill Pounder at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in April. It will be the first time it’s shown on the big screen in 101 years.

“This is why I do what I do, though I never dared dream this one would resurface,” David admits. “Miracles really do happen.”