US to return 19 items from King Tut`s tomb: Egypt

Cairo: Egypt`s antiquities authority says the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will return 19 artefacts taken from the tomb of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass says the trove is made up of small figurines and jewellery, including a miniature bronze dog, a sphinx-shaped bracelet trinket and a necklace.

He said in a statement on Wednesday that the items will return to Egypt next year, and will become part of the permanent King Tutankhamun collection at the new Grand Egyptian Museum scheduled to open in 2012.

The antiquities authority said the pieces were sent to New York in 1948 when the Metropolitan Museum closed its expedition house in Egypt.

There was no immediate comment from the museum.

Bureau Report