from 'help eqdamage'
When a piece of equipment gets hit, it is very likely that
it receives standard damage, although prots and combat sense
often lessen the amount. If the item is being worn/wielded
by a person who created the item, it will receive no permanent
damage. Otherwise, there's a good chance that it will receive
some permanent damage (roughly 1/4th of the actual damage).

so i guess we can assume that whatever broke, didnt break permanently, or at
least that the damage it took when it did break wasnt permanent .. now we just
need to figure out what that means