You can email me the current save if you wish. It probably will not behave any differently than the previous one, but comparing results starting from the same save would be (slightly) better.
Actually, do you have a save just before encountering (or hitting the alt key nearby) the 3 arena guards? If you reload that save, do you get another corrupt item there? The equipment generation problem is probably random, but could be related to the NPC or location (don't bother checking if your previous save is more than a few minutes before that). If you moved or moused over the chest with the BF key the contents would be set, so that corrupt item would be there in any saves since that point.
