As you map out plans for shopping on Black Friday, it’s entertaining to look back 40 years to when one of the most famous items ever hawked in the prestigious Neiman Marcus catalog ended up in San Jose and came with a little something extra.

In 1971 Stanley Marcus, then president of the Dallas-based luxury retailer, made his annual appearance on the Today Show to reveal what gifts would be found in that year’s Christmas catalog.

The most unusual item, and one still talked about today, were the His and Hers mummy cases, guaranteed to be around 2,000 years old.

The item was “one of the biggest news producers of all times,” wrote Marcus in the 1982 book His & Hers The Fantasy World of the Neiman Marcus Catalogue.

He also recounted the tale of how the mummy cases were found, through a London man he met at a cocktail party.

Knowing the cases would definitely create a stir; Marcus had them shipped from London to Bal Harbour, Fla., where the latest Neiman Marcus store had just opened.

Then came the surprise call at midnight from the store manager.

Marcus wrote: “He told me that they had just received the cases, and when they had opened them they had discovered a mummy inside one of them. He wanted to know what to do.

” ‘Don’t tell a soul until you get a doctor to examine the mummy and to give you a death certificate. We’ve inadvertently broken the law by transporting a corpse into the country and we may be subject to a federal fine. We’ll get our lawyers to appear before the customs authorities to admit we unwittingly imported a mummy and throw ourselves on their mercy.’

“Fortunately, the authorities understood the situation and on presentation of the death certificate passed the cases and the mummy.”

At the end of the anecdote, Marcus wrote that the sale of the cases “proved we could sell almost anything.”

Actually there weren’t a lot of takers. In fact, the sole serious inquiry came from the Rosicrucian Order, interested in acquiring them for the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose.

“The order asked for documentation regarding the authenticity of the His and Hers sarcophagi,” says Julie Scott, president of the Order.

“Once we confirmed that they were authentic, we purchased them.”

“When they went to ship it, they called to say, ‘There is a mummy inside one of these. Do you want it?’ ” Scott says.

The answer was yes, which is how the museum ended up with the two cases and a mummy.

“It would be impossible to make such a purchase today,” Scott says.

For many years the mummy was identified as Usermontu, a priest who lived sometime between 644 and 525 BC and served Pharaoh Tutankhamen and possibly his successor Horemheb.

This was because he was found inside Usermontu’s wooden sarcophagus, which was identified by its markings. They match the markings on the granite sarcophagus of Usermontu in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The wooden case was originally placed inside of the granite one.

“We’ve done considerable research on this mummy, and it’s possible he’s part of the missing royalty of Ancient Egypt,” Scott says.

“He came in the sarcophagus and everybody assumed it was him, but his style of mummification and the body position is from a different time period. Now we call him the mummy who came in Usermontu’s sarcophagus.”

The mummy’s arms are crossed, which could signify he was a member of the royal family or even a king himself, according to research done at the museum.

At the very least, the mummy was a wealthy nobleman as only the top 5 percent of the Egyptian population could afford the expense of mummification.

His identity is intriguing enough that the mummy has been featured on two segments of the History Channel.

With the mummy display at the museum is an x-ray of his knee showing a metal pin. It could have been used to repair a break after he was mummified or, as some speculate, in a limb-reattachment surgery while he was alive.

A clue to his possibly identity may come from DNA testing, Scott says.

“We know the exact DNA of royal mummies, so we’re just waiting for the DNA testing to be conclusive enough to show if he’s related to the other pharaohs,” she says.

Recent political activity in Egypt is partly to blame for the current uncertainty.

As Scott diplomatically puts it, “The folks who would make the decision are in a flux right now.”

If the “mummy who came in Usermontu’s sarcophagus” turns out to be a pharaoh, he may be returned to Egypt, as a pharaoh mummy at Emory University was, Scott says.

“If he is, we would choose to do that because it’s the right thing,” she adds. “It’s like having a president of the United States. If somebody had George Washington’s body, it would be the right thing to return him to his home country.”

Until the “mummy who came in Usermontu’s sarcophagus” is identified, he will remain on exhibit along with those two His and Hers mummy cases at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, 1660 Park Ave.

The museum store doesn’t sell authentic mummy cases, but it does sell small reproductions, along with paintings on papyrus, Egyptian games, jewelry and the informative booklet Making Mummies, published by the museum and priced under $1.

The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is $9 general; $7 for those 55 and older and students with ID; $5 for children 5 to 10; free to those 4 and under. Visit www.egyptianmuseum.org.