A shovel
 

No, not that one, the other one.

There was a weapon called "a shovel" which was all/all that could be picked up off the ground in lake rathe, it was unremarkable ratio wise but it happened to be the fastest 2hb in game. It was _the_ way to get that particular skill up. I have checked a few times for its presence, but it wasn't there - no detailed analyses, and I'm sure it had a repop rate commensurate with the zone, but Im lazy and didn't wait.

Is it in game?

Have you tried any of the NPCs listed here?

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=468

Lots of ground spawns aren't spawning. The only ground spawns I've seen that do spawn fit a short list:

Paladin bones
Tarton's spokes
Coins of tash

Every other ground spawn, from the mushroom farm in Kaladim to the leaves in the faydarks and the rust in steamfont, to the little treasure chest under the shark in freeport don't seem to be there at all. It's a long list

No this didn't drop from a mob, it was picked up off the ground in lake rathe.

Aha. I just made a dwarf character recently and I could have sworn that there was a broken sword (or maybe it was just a really crappy one) that you could pick up off the bottom of the pool in the mine in Kaladim. I thought maybe some one had already grabbed it, so I kept checking but it never showed.

it was the abandoned orc shovel, the beloved weapon of rangers everywhere. it's supposed to spawn inside one of the orc's tents.

I know that the rod and coin spawn underwater in Neriak Commons on the server.

Yeah, the coin in the pool outside the Kaladim warrior's guild is there.

They're on the short list.