When I was in the rag rug business I shipped the rugs in round cardboard tubes. I made ends for them out of other cardboard and oceans of gray tape. You could beat on the package with a sledge hammer and it would not budge. So I had an order for two identical blue and white rugs. I sent them both on the same day with the same address and marked them 1 of 2 and 2 of 2. I always paid for insurance through UPS. This one time I needed it. Only the 2 of 2 made it to the destination. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to trace it. The answer was there is this black hole and some of their stuff disappears down that hole. I was paid in full for the rug and the client asked me to make another so I actually sold three of them.
I thought since the package was round and 8 feet long that it rolled off some sort of conveyor belt and was caught in some machinery. Maybe that's what happened to the bow too. Mine was never found.