OH!
well then oh shit!
Turns out the experiment I was about to run on the Sword Pedestal shield was already proven.
Ignore what I said about it needed to be in the shop zone.
Turns out That if you attach a boss to it, It'll tag it with that metal.
the Last boss I attached to it was Steel, so it remained steel looking.
Had I attached the Adamantine to it and been forced to reload, It would've changed the entire thing to adamantine, And I just knocked off the handles as if it was copper/reloaded - and they're steel - which means they could've been two additional free Adamantine ingots had I left it adamantine. - curse my experimenting ways not making adamantine be the final test...
So Now I have two steel handles - the rim and board still aren't reclaimable or anything. and the only reason I figured this out before reloading, was cause I was about to attach Mithril boss to it from the leftover funds from selling Adamantine sword/making pick - see if I could leave the mithril boss attached to it at the pedestal and see if it would "become a shield" on reload.
The boss wouldn't attach. leading me to try and dismantle it again.