I was told by a GM that this item is bugged.... it is not supposed to be an artifact, and in fact it is listed in their logs as a Fireborn Bracer. He told me not to be surprised if I logged in one day and it wasn't an artifact anymore..... quite probably it will turn into a bracer as well, and the next time you die you won't be able to equip it on your face.
even though this item is tagged as an artifact i have seen it drop 3 times on bristlbane first drop my cleric got it the second drop a druid got it and the 3rd drop the ranger looted it. last time i knew there was only supposed to be one artifact of a certain type per server.