Tutglut

A golden trail across the U.S.

A priestly inscription on the golden corselet around his body assured the newly dead King Tutankhamun: YOUR SOUL LIVES! YOUR VEINS ARE FIRM! Few such adumbrations have ever proved so accurate, if not necessarily in the otherworldly sense intended. Since the discovery of his 3,300-year-old tomb 56 years ago last month, the boy pharaoh has enjoyed a scintillating afterlife in the vision, imagination and, it must be said, the commerce of modern man. The treasures from his Valley of the Kings resting place, shown in packed museums around the world, have inspired countless designers of art, jewelry, fashion and frippery over the decades. The current exhibition, the "Treasures of Tutankhamun," may well have been viewed by 7 million Americans by the time it concludes a threeyear, seven-city tour of the U.S. in San Francisco next September.

In New York City, where Tut opens on Dec. 20, at the Metropolitan Museum, 900,000 tickets were snapped up in 5 1/2 days in mid-September, and the line at one point stretched 20 blocks. At its U.S. debut in Washington, the collection drew 835,000 visitors, more than the entire population of the District of Columbia. It attracted an even bigger crowd in New Orleans (870,595), and was credited with bringing in $75 million in revenue. The record for the U.S. tour so far is held by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History: 1,349,724 visitors. That figure could have been doubled if the museum had been able to handle the crowds. Seattle's Art Museum drew 1,293,203. When the show packed up, Seattle stores ran "Goodbye, Tut" sales.

Seductive beauty and ageless craftsmanship account largely for the drawing power of Tut's treasures. "They are so fresh they kind of wipe out time," says Thomas Moving, who as former head of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum organized the show and has written the best-selling Tutankhamun: The Untold Story (Simon and Schuster; $12.95). Although many of the exhibit's 55 pieces are gold, Hoving maintains that the value of the collection is "not a critical part of its popularity." (Asked how much it is worth, he replies airily: "$416,872,417.68, plus green stamps.")

The traveling show has spawned a Tutglut of objets d'art, baubles and gewgaws. Among the more decorative (and authentic) memorabilia have been the 300-odd reproductions and adaptations designed and distributed by the Metropolitan Museum. They range from a $4.50 charm to a $2,000 gold statuette of the Standing King. Hieroglyphs, geometries and other Egyptian themes adorn jewelry, sheets, games, puzzles, rugs, glasses, ice buckets, stationery, scarves, trays, tote bags, hairdos, plates, pots and posters. Tutmania has also produced such vulgarities as T Shirts (HANDS OFF MY TUTS) and such culinary abominations as sphinxburgers.

If Tutmania palls, can Treasures II be far behind? Well, even now, archaeologists are excavating the 2,000-year-old temple of the goddess Mut, but it may be 25 years before its contents are ready for Mutmania.

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