Eugène Boban began life in humble circumstances in Paris, traveled to the California Gold Rush, and later became a recognized authority on pre-Columbian cultures. He also invented an entire category of archaeological artifact: the Aztec crystal skull. By his own admission, he successfully “palmed off” a number of these crystal skulls on the curators of Europe’s leading museums. How could that happen, and who was this man? Detailed are the travels, self-education, and archaeological explorations of Eugène Boban; this book also explores the circumstances that allowed him to sell fakes to museums that would remain undetected for over a century.
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Jane MacLaren Walsh. The Man Who Invented Aztec Crystal Skulls
THE MAN WHO INVENTED AZTEC CRYSTAL SKULLS
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AUTHORS’ NOTE
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
1. CAVEAT EMPTOR
Boban Family History
Notes
2. BETWEEN OLD WORLD AND NEW
Notes
3. MEXICO
Notes
4. MEXICO AT MID-CENTURY
Notes
5. THE EMPEROR’S ANTIQUARIAN
Notes
6. CONFRONTING A DIFFERENT PARIS
Notes
7. MARKETING A COLLECTION
Notes
8. A PREMIER COLLECTION
Notes
9. NARRATIVES OF PROVENANCE
Notes
10. THE RUE DU SOMMERARD DECADE
Notes
11. OF FAKES AND FAKERS
Notes
12. FROM STUDENT TO TEACHER, DEALER TO CURATOR
Notes
13. GOOD DEALS AND BAD
Notes
14. BACK IN BUSINESS
Notes
15. FINGERPRINTS ON CRYSTAL SKULLS
Notes
16. COURTING THE SMITHSONIAN
Notes
17. OF FAKES, FORGERS, AND FRAUDS
Notes
18 “EL TOCAYO’S” TRIUMPH
Notes
19. LATER LIFE
Notes
20. AFTERLIFE
EPILOGUE
Notes
REFERENCES
Unpublished Sources
Published Sources
INDEX
Отрывок из книги
THE MAN WHO INVENTED AZTEC CRYSTAL SKULLS
Jane MacLaren Walsh and Brett Topping
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Eugène André Boban was nineteen when his older sister was married in the St. Sulpice church. If he had completed his schooling around the age of twelve, he would have already been working with his father for about seven years. Prior to the education reforms of the late 1880s in France, school ended for most boys after they had made their first communion (Prost 1968: 100–2). In 1852 the baccalauréat ès lettres and the baccalauréat ès sciences were created. One had to be sixteen years old to have the right to take this examination, which, if one passed, gave access to university or advanced studies. Boban’s name does not appear in the records of the baccalauréat tests for those years, however (Pascal Riviale, pers. comm.).
1. AN, F/7/10843/B, demandes de résidence à Paris, dossier Boban.
