Bill Thibert, from Quarry Gardens in Ludlow, with the unusual metal object he found over six years ago
Shropshire has become known as a haven for suspected UFO activity with experts being called in to try to determine what strange sights in the sky actually are.
But now a county man is calling for help for another unidentified object – which he found underground with a metal detector. Bill Thibert, from Ludlow, discovered the metal object while out with a metal detector in woods opposite Moor Park School.
Mr Thibert, who has been metal detecting for 30 years, said he discovered the item six years ago but is still no closer to finding out what it is.
The 66-year-old, who is a retired caterer who became interested in metal detecting after reading stories of Roman hoards, today appealed for help.
He said: “You see in the papers all these hoards that have been dug up and when I looked into it, I noticed that when people like the Romans went off to battles, they got killed and left all their hoards behind.
“Before banks, people used to bury all their household silver in the garden.”
He said he had also been inspired by tales of highwaymen hiding their ill-gotten gains in hollow trees and then not being able to claim them.
Despite not finding a hoard himself, he said he still enjoyed metal detecting enough to keep going.
The mystery object
He added: “Some farmers like you to go on their land, because you can find metal objects that would damage ploughs.”
The most valuable thing he has found was a half groat coin, which was more than 400 years old.
Mr Thibert is not currently metal detecting due to a health problem but hopes that following surgery, he may be able to get out and about again.
He has dubbed his unknown find an “unidentified found object” and although he has ideas of what it could be he does not know for definite.
He said: “It’s total weight is 70 grammes and it has the appearance of stainless steel, but I think it could be an apprentice engineer’s test piece.
“The ball is a perfect fit in the circle.”
- Do you know what the item is? Contact Mr Thibert at bmtiber@yahoo.co.uk
By Hannah Costigan
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It’s quite common actually – an old ring made to commemorate Prince Albert. As it was designed to be a semi-permanent fixture, it consisted of two parts which were pressured together during fitting to ensure a good fit.
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Looks a Prince albert
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if its what I think it is I do hope hes washed his hands!
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Looks like piercing jewelry, specifically for the piercing known as a “Prince Albert” (PA).
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I would recommend checking to see what kind of magnetic properties this object has, testing the metal to see it’s composition, document everything that happens when tests are run on it however insignificant it seems to you at the time. The more data you have the easier it is to reach a conclusion.
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Or pop it along to a jewellers
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There’s nothing unearthly about a Prince Albert, the man is just an old fuddy duddy!
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The only unearthly thing about this is why is it deemed newsworthy? Must be a slow news day!
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That’s the part that fell off my UFO, give it back.
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You mean this is ET’s Prince Albert, lol
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Come on Shropshire Star, you take enough stick with your ‘UFO’ stories and you know that they are Chinese Lanterns just like the rest of us.
Why are we now doubting an engineering project in metal ?
Are you really that short of news stories that you have to print this cobblers ?
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As a post script to my last, if that is a Prince Albert, I pity the poor sod that has to wear it in the only place that I am aware of. EEugh and ouch !
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