THE play-off trophy lifted by Bolton Wanderers at Wembley in 1995 has been discovered by accident at auction by a man in North Yorkshire.

Collector David Copland could hardly believe his luck when a battered piece of silverware purchased last year turned out to be the one lifted by Bruce Rioch’s team after their thrilling 4-3 victory against Reading.

The exact same trophy had been won in the play-offs by Leicester City 12 months earlier, and the Foxes got their hands on it for a second time at the end of the 1995/96 season before it was returned to sponsors, Endsleigh.

The insurance company ended their deal with the Football League in 1996 and the trophy was allowed to fall into serious disrepair – with neither Wanderers nor Leicester any the wiser.

Mr Copland, from Northallerton has restored the trophy and now hopes one of the clubs will consider buying it back for their cabinet.

“It was quite an incredible find,” Mr Copland told The Bolton News. “This kind of thing simply doesn’t happen.

“It sounds sad, but I spend most of my life reading engravings on medals and trophies, looking for anything that is unusual, but to find something like this is just incredible.

“Someone, probably in Endsleigh’s marketing department, probably threw it into a cupboard once the sponsorship had finished and forgotten all about it.

“What happened to the lid, which featured an owl, or the plinth, I don’t know. I suspect they were too personalised and may have been destroyed.

“The trophy itself was in serious disrepair. It was heavily tarnished, had some enormous dents in it, and had basically been forgotten about for 20-25 years.

“But I deal with a company in Sheffield who are one of the top restorers in the country. They have repaired the FA Cup in the past, and it is a fine sight now back in its former glory.”

The item weighs in at a whopping 1.7kg and is made of solid silver, rather than being silver-plated like many modern trophies. It is currently listed on Ebay at £75,000, or best offer, through Mr Copland’s company, Old Glory Hunter.

Mr Copland was also able to rescue the Third Division prize won by Wycombe, Chesterfield, and Plymouth Argyle in consecutive seasons between 1994 and 1996 and is also in the process of having that restored.

“I am something of a football historian and getting this kind of thing back to where they belong is as important as getting a good price,” he said.

“I look for all kind of items of this kind, and there is often a fascinating tale behind them.

“This was the first trophy that Leicester City ever won at Wembley and looking around the internet some of the photos of Bolton’s players lifting it are iconic.”

The Ebay item listed by Mr Copland can be found here.