The Man Who Invented Aztec Crystal Skulls. Jane MacLaren Walsh

Aztec Calendar or Sun Stone on the western wall of Mexico City’s cathedral, ca. 1860 (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      4.3. View of Teotihuacan archeological site showing the Pyramid of the Sun. Photo by William Henry Jackson (Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives).

      5.1. Eugène Boban, carte de visite (courtesy of Museo Nacional de Historia, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City).

      5.2. Boban’s version of the Aztec macuahuitl (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Blake Collection, 99009).

      5.3. Blackware fake in Smithsonian collections (National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology).

      5.4. Museo Nacional Collection, 1865 (courtesy of Getty Research Collections, 2002.R.10).

      5.5. Exposition Universelle Paris, 1867 (Smithsonian Libraries).

      6.1. Boban’s shop at 35, rue du Sommerard in the 5th arrondissement (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      6.2a–b. Publicity photographs of the rue du Sommerard shop (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      6.3. Stone ax from Boban’s collection in the Musée Pincé (courtesy of Musées d’Angers).

      7.1a. Drawing of gold bell in Hispanic Society Collection (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      7.1b. Photo of bell from The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin.

      8.1a–c. Publicity photographs of Boban’s pre-Columbian collection in Paris (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      8.2. Reproduction of the Boban Calendar Wheel published in 1866 in the Archives de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique (Smithsonian Libraries).

      8.3. Drawing of pyrite mirror by Jean Amatus Klein, 1865 (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      8.4. Drawing of Boban’s concept of the Aztec macuahuitl (courtesy of Musée Pincé, Angers).

      8.5. Mural showing jaguar warrior in the church of San Miguel Arcangel in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico (detail of internet scan by author).

      9.1a. Xipe Totec mask displayed in the Pavillon de Sessions, Louvre (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris).

      9.1b. Maximilien Franck drawing of Xipe Totec mask (courtesy of the British Museum, London, AM2006, Drg. 128, pg. 30).

      9.2a. Huastec sculpture in Musée du quai Branly (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris).

      9.2b. The same figure as drawn by Maximilien Franck in 1829, when it was in the Museo Nacional (courtesy of the British Museum, London, AM2006, Drg. 128, pg. 42).

      9.3a. Drawing of carved stone faces and ceramic vessels by Maximilien Franck, 1829 (courtesy of the British Museum, London, AM2006, Drg.128, pg. 35).

      9.3b. Carved stone face (courtesy of the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1878.1.171AM).

      9.4. Three views of carved stone figure by Maximilien Franck, 1828–30 (courtesy of the British Museum, London, AM2006, Drg.128, pg. 47).

      9.5a. “Terra cottas reproducing cranial deformation” from Boban’s 1875 article in Le Musée Archéologique (Smithsonian Libraries).

      9.5b. Smiling head in Musée du quai Branly collections (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris).

      9.6. Quetzalcoatl carving in Musée du quai Branly collections on exhibit at the Louvre (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris).

      9.7. Maximilien Franck drawing of seated stone figure (courtesy of the British Museum, London, AM2006, Drg.128, pg. 41).

      9.8. Monkey with tulip-shell pendant (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1878.1.81AM).

      9.9a–b. Front and back of Aztec feather insigne (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1878.1.2963).

      9.10a. Feather blanket from Musée du quai Branly collections (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1881.80.110).

      9.10b. Photograph that Boban sent to Gabriel de Mortillet showing feather blanket in his collection (courtesy of Musée d’Archéologie nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, M5001_1100490_Album Noir 37, folio 191).

      11.1. Obsidian artifact in Musée du quai Branly collections (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1878.1.498).

      11.2. Rock crystal skull in Musée du quai Branly collections (courtesy of Musée du quai Branly, Paris, 71.1878.1.57).

      11.3. Carved stone figure about which Augustin Damour consulted Boban in 1883. Ernest T. Hamy published the piece in the Journal de la société des américanistes in 1907, identifying it as Ixcuina (Smithsonian Libraries).

      12.1. The announcement that appeared in The Two Republics, 1 January 1886 (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      12.2. One of several posters printed in Mexico to advertise Boban’s museum (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      12.3a–b. Front and side view of Aztec warrior figure exhibited in 1885 in Museo Científico, Mexico City (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      12.4. Part of Boban’s stirrup and spur collection (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      12.5a–b. Two of the mummies from Santo Domingo exhibited in 1885 in the Museo Científico, with detail of the mummies and the table of skulls behind them (courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, DMO n.a.f. 21476: item 278).

      13.1a. Main temple at Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico (courtesy of Hispanic Society of America, New York).

      13.1b. Engraving of same image of temple published in