Saying “it came like this” when you broke it just teaches people to check everything you hand them.

Blaming the object protects you once and reprograms how people handle anything you pass them afterwards. They start checking, which takes time and says something, and the checking carries on long after the broken thing has been forgotten. You have not avoided a cost. You have turned a one-off into a standing charge.

Own the break at the moment of handover, in as few words as possible: I dropped it, I think I cracked this, here is what I will do about it. Offer to pay or to fix it where you can. That habit is worth more than any single item you might get away with.