[crossfire] material type issue

[Preston Crow]

I've noticed that if I buy a bunch of stuff from a table (like
alchemical elements), they don't have a material type, but if I leave
them in my apartment and come back after the map has been saved, the
material type is set.  This means that newly-bought items don't merge
with older items (and they're indestructible).

Is this something that is easily fixed?

--PC