It's actually pretty sensible, we find it weird only because of game tropes habits. [...]
I agree, partly at least. I admit that it's nitpicking a bit but I would have hoped for some kind of logic similar to pickpocketing here; it makes no sense for a blacksmith to realise that a handful of nails went missing from his huge stash. Stealing his prize piece of armor from the display stand, however, should rightly trigger the search routine.
Still it's bloody silly that the stolen tag stays on items forever.
