King Tut's Golden beard falls off !

[Ozfactor]

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/beard-of-egypts-king-tut-glued-back-on/story-e6frfkui-1227192827459

CONSERVATORS at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo say the blue and gold braided beard on a mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun has been hastily glued back on with epoxy after it was detached during a cleaning.

[Dark_Grey]

Ugh.

[GrimmOne]

WOW

[SolarPlexus]

Ahhhah

[danielost]

someone used to much elbow grease.

[toast]

Great!

[Sir Smoke aLot]

Just fix it with some glue! - boss said and put the restauration money in his pocket. Well, at least that is how b******* 'fix' things here in my country, maybe it is not the case here but to 'fix' it in that way, it does show some similarities. National heritage is not personal posession, but when people get to position which they don't deserve they act as if it is their private company.

[kmt_sesh]

They will file this under the category of "Oops!"

Or blame the tourists. They're always up to no good.

[Peter Cox]

There is no cure for STUPID. Poor king tut, no onw cares about what he needs or wants lol

[jarjarbinks]

and they did not lose their jobs, maybe they will broke it again next week

[JinxDeMynx]

Great. you done messed up again boy.

now you gotta get whipped.

Seriously though, they just destroyed history!

one million years dungeon!

[Myles]

Is this a big deal? So now they can use the correct adhesive and fix it. It's not like it was going anywhere.

[Vincennes]

I have doubts this story is true. If it is, it's truly funny ! Darn that Super Glue, it always drips where you don't want it to, won't adhere to what you want but you know starting out your fingers are going to be permanently affixed. They are lucky that didn't happen and they were forced to display it with the cleaning lady's hand adhered to the nose !

[Kenemet]

The story is true, and the beard was originally glued on (as are the inlays.) But Egyptian glue doesn't last more than a few thousand years.

It does sound like a couple of students or lower level assistants were trying to cover up the detachment of the beard. The repair was clumsy and inexpert. Speaking from my experience with dinosaurs, the top conservator would have used a less permanent glue to reattach it and used a lot less glue. I'm aware of the type of glue they ended up using (epoxy) and it's something we almost never use unless we're repairing a gap that we're sure will never be filled (as when a bone is crushed and parts of it are missing.

[+Hammerclaw]

If zahi hawass was still in charge, heads would roll.

[ancient astronaut]

There really is no excuse for this.

[Grandpa Greenman]

That is too bad. Hopefully some day they will learn to take better care of their toys.

[Kenemet]

If zahi hawass was still in charge, heads would roll.

Actually, he might have had better staff supervising the curation. It's not just him... it's everyone, I think.

Edited to add that restoration and repair can be very difficult to do. This sort of artifact should only be handled by the best... but was probably cared for by "the best available." We've seen damage like this in other museums by other curators.

Heck, I've seen damage by experienced restorers (on dinosaurs, mind you) -- very ham-handed stuff. It's a more difficult job than you might think.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Kenemet

[Harte]

The story is true, and the beard was originally glued on (as are the inlays.) But Egyptian glue doesn't last more than a few thousand years.

Damned defective Ancient Egyptian glue!

Harte

[Foil Hat Ninja]

That happened to me once.

[kmt_sesh]

I would/ve opted for duct tape.

If you can't fix it with duct tape, it ain't worth fixing.

[+susieice]

This is just sad. Irreplaceable and beautiful artwork. My favorite in the Tut collection.

Edited January 24, 2015 by susieice

[jarjarbinks]

This mask is easily in the top 5 most known artistic creation by mankind along with Mona Lisa, David and others.

[Harte]

I would/ve opted for duct tape.

If you can't fix it with duct tape, it ain't worth fixing.

Tape

Harte

[MissJatti]

I wonder how much the mask is worth now, £10??