A UNIQUE piece of Blackburn's educational history has been returned to the town.

The one-of-a-kind golden pencil was originally presented to the founder of Blackburn Technical School more than 125 years ago.

Sir Bill Taylor, chair of the college governors, spotted the pencil on eBay late last year and promptly won the online auction, paying £200 for it. Now he plans to present the Victorian artefact to Blackburn College where he has been a governor for the past 25 years.

The pencil was given to industrial chemist William Bickerdike, of Oswaldtwistle, in 1888 by the Prince of Wales.

The chemist had returned from Europe with the idea of developing a technical college.

At first there was little enthusiasm, but a year later it resurfaced as an idea to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

The foundation stone of what is now known as Blackburn College was laid on the May 9 1888 by the Prince and Princess of Wales who presented Mr Bickerdike with the pencil inscribed with his name. After that, the whereabouts of the pencil is unknown until it came up for sale on the auction site last year.

"I won the auction off a woman in Kent...it's in great condition. It's amazing it's not been lost really," said Sir Bill. "I have shown a photo of it to the board and it's my intention to donate it to the college."

It's currently being stored at Blackburn's Ainsworth Jewellers, where it was first bought from. Jeweller Ken Ainsworth said the pencil was still in its original box and must have been sold by his great grandfather Joseph.

"It gives the impression that it should be gold but there's no hallmark," Ken said.

Sir Bill started as a college governor in 1981 but had a nine-year break.

He is also a former leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council and election agent for former Blackburn MP and former Justice Minister Jack Straw from 1979 to 2010. He was knighted in 2003 for services to local government.