"It may be on sale on eBay": Museum appeals to Manchester public to help find "knight in shining armour"
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Greater Manchester Transport Museum wants public to be "eyes and ears" in search for stolen silver miniature
The knight's head reappeared 45 years after its bus was saved© Courtesy GMTMThe miniature was once attached to a vintage bus given to the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester following its final voyage in 1970. But it had been considered missing until it was donated to volunteers at the museum earlier this year.
“Only one of these knight’s heads was ever made, making it a complete one-off,” says Paul Williams, of the museum.
“It means nothing to the thieves but it’s actually a piece of history. The thief may have taken it to sell to an unscrupulous collector or, because it’s shiny, they may have thought it was silver. But actually it’s just chrome plating.
“It’s worthless to the thief but it means a lot to the volunteers who give their time to charity to keep the museum open, and our fear is that if it was a thief looking for precious metal they’ve found out that it isn’t and they’ve just thrown it away.”
The cabinet was broken into during the second weekend of August.
“We want everyone who cares about Greater Manchester’s history to be our eyes and ears to look out for our little knight in shining armour and help it come home,” says Williams.
“It may be on sale at eBay, it might be on a junk stall, it could even be lying in a corner thrown away.”
- Anyone with information can contact Collyhurst Police Station, Greater Manchester Police on 101 quoting crime number 141-827-M15, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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Three museums to see transport history in
Grampian Transport Museum, Aberdeenshire
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Coventry Transport Museum
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Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Northern Ireland
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