Section - The pottery
The a pile of broken pottery is a thing. The printed name is "a pile of broken pottery". The description is "The ancient urn has been reduced a small heap of broken pottery. You sure showed who's boss."
Instead of taking the pottery: try searching the pottery.
Instead of searching the pottery:
if the pottery is hiding something:
say "You run your hands through the broken pottery. Oh, lookie here! [A list of things hidden by the pottery]!";
repeat with the treasure running through the list of things hidden by the pottery:
now the treasure is in the location of the player;
now the treasure is not hidden by the pottery;
otherwise:
say "You futilely run your hands through the broken pottery."