Relax whoever, just kidding around with the OP.
To add to the confirmation of how it was on live, just saw a guide on monkly business about a similar usage of NPCs to store items as late as July 2001.
http://www.monkly-business.net/forum...ead.php?t=8577
Tactic is kill a mob w/ a pet, feign, give items to pet, kill it later. presto banko.
Come to think of it, that means pets shouldn't poof when I feign after killing their master, and they do presently.
EDIT - as I read further into that guide, it seems they sometimes poofed on live, and only stayed around if (unconfirmed) they had previously aggroed something. So it was just wonky all around, and probably not confirmable enough to merit a fix (since the monks there are unsure what makes them stay), but still supports the mobs dropping given items on live thing for the enchies.