something strange found in my oil crankcase

[cristi-mic]

Hi everybody !! This time i'm coming with something more serious : today i took out the oil pan (it was a little broken from a "field trip" ) to weld it , but had a big surprise : i found a little piece of metal (a small cylinder 3 cm long and about 7 mm thick, with small canals at both ends) - looks like it may be from the distribution chain tender . Then i took out the valve cover , but everything seems ok , and the engine runs perfectly . Can this happen (the bolt that holds this tender to come loose ) ? What could happen ? And why nothing already happened ?
Waiting impatientlly , cristi from romania

(w123 240 D '77)