[SixOfSpades]

I, too, relish the idea of the origin of items, and hate it when incredibly powerful stuff (such as the Cloak of Mirroring) just appears out of nowhere, with not even a footnote about who made it, or even any record of previous use. I also dislike Descriptions that sound too facile: Sanchuudoku, for example, says that the sword was "cooled in fresh Black Dragon blood, and with the hilt decorated with Greater Wolfwere bone fragments," making it sound like this horrifying tool was tossed off in an afternoon by some frat guys with nothing better to do.

My best 'origin' story is on Moradin's Firebrand: The Dwarven god of smithwork had a lump of raw iron that he was planning to make into a helmet, but a Fire Mephit snatched it right out of Moradin's forge before the god could even set his hammer to it. The lump of iron still retains the heat of the holy forges, however, and will deal 1D4 Magic Fire damage per round to anyone (except a Dwarf) who is struck by it or tries to wield it. Also, since Moradin never placed any actual enchantments on the metal, it strikes as a Normal weapon.
The Description also includes a warning on how the Firebrand can be used for cooking and starting fires, and how the best way of keeping it stored when not in use is to pack it into a bag of wet clay, and soak the bag in bodies of water from time to time.