Only known copy of Hungry Hobos, a five-minute film showing Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, to be auctioned after archive discovery

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A precious long-lost cartoon film featuring a rabbit that was the forerunner to Mickey Mouse has been discovered on a shelf in an archive in rural England.

The only known copy of Hungry Hobos starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was found at the Huntley Film Archives in Herefordshire, where it had probably languished for decades.

It is creating great interest among cartoon enthusiasts and is being put up for auction in Los Angeles next month.

Oswald was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1927. Hungry Hobos – or Hoboes, as it is sometimes spelled – was made in 1928 and was one of a series of about 26 titles.

Later Disney and Iwerks transferred many of Oswald's traits to Mickey Mouse.

No one knows how the five-minute Oswald cartoon came to be sitting on a shelf at Huntley Film Archives, which specialises in social history films.

Amanda Huntley, who runs the company, said a colleague stumbled upon it and out of curiosity searched its name on the internet and realised it was a lost classic.

The Hungry Hobos film shows Oswald and his friend Peg Leg Pete on a train. Hungry, they rob a chicken of her egg.

Huntley said: "There are a lot of lost films out there. It's amazing that they get lost but they do.

"This was made in 1928 and has been in our collection for decades. We specialise in social history films and not animation.

"But my colleague took the film from the shelf and Googled it – I don't really know why.

"We quickly realised it was one of the great lost films. We posted the news on specialist web forums and everybody was very excited.

"It is significant because it is Disney but also because the character was the prototype of Mickey Mouse.

"Disney developed many characters and they changed over time and Oswald has the characteristics of Mickey Mouse – he looks similar even though he's a rabbit.

"How we ended up with the film, I don't know. It was probably collected by my father who started the company and it has been sitting on our shelves for decades.

"We have decided to sell it because it is not really what we specialise in and we can use the money to preserve other films we have."

Stephanie Connell, from auctioneers Bonhams, said: "Hungry Hobos is an incredible find, a lost masterpiece and a cartoon with a unique and vital place in animation history."

The film is now expected to fetch up to $40,000 (£25,000) when it goes under the hammer at Bonhams' entertainment memorabilia auction in Los Angeles on 14 December.