Eugène Boban

Infobox Person
name=Eugène Boban


image_size=
caption=Eugène Boban at the 1867 Paris Exposition
birth_name=André Eugène Boban-Duvergé
birth_date=
birth_place=
death_date=1908
death_place=
death_cause=
resting_place=
resting_place_coordinates=
residence=Mexico City, Paris,New York City
nationality=
other_names
known_for=crystal skulls
education=
employer=
occupation=antiquarian
title=
religion=
spouse=
children=
parents=
relatives=


website=
footnotes=

Eugène Boban or Boban-Duvergé (? – 1909) was a French antiquarian. He was the official archaeologist of the court of Maximillian I of Mexico, and a member of the French Scientific Commission in Mexico. At one time, he held then sold a number of crystal skulls, one which is now in the Musée du Quai Branly and another in the British Museum. [Sax "et al." (2008), Walsh (2008)]

Career

Eugène Boban came to Mexico as a teenager, and became fluent in both Spanish and Nahuatl. He headed an expedition commissioned by Napoleon III to collect Mexican art and artifacts, later exhibited at the Trocadéro Museum in connection with the Exposition Universelle (1867). In 1885 he had published a poster, "Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la republica mexicana". [ [http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!silibraries&uri=full=3100001~!526234~!0#focus Smithsonian Library on-line] .] In July of 1886, he moved his business to New York City. Two sale catalogues of his collection, catalogued by Ed. Frossard, were published in New York in 1887. [ [http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!silibraries&uri=full=3100001~!254125~!0#focus Smithsonian Library on-line] ] In 1891, he organized and published the Aubin-Goupil Collection of manuscripts, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Ethnological objects from his collection were sold in Paris, 1908. ["Préhistorique; ages de la pierre, du bronze, du fer. Catalogue spécial des objets provenant de la collection Eugène Boban et des collections Émile Collin, du Chambon, Gaberel, Landesque, etc." Schleicher frères, Paris 1908 ( [http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!254125!0 Smithsonian Library on-line] )]

Questions of authenticity

A crystal skull originally sold by Boban, now in the British Museum, has been demonstrated to be a modern fake. [cite web |last=Rincon |first=Paul |title=Crystal skulls 'are modern fakes' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7414637.stm]

Published works

Boban's published works include:
* Eugéne Boban "Antiquités mexicaines" Paris, E. Leroux, 1875
* "Bibliographie palèoethnologique" 1881
* "Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la republica mexicana" Mexico, Imp. de Muriga, 1885
* E. Boban "Documents pour servir à histoire du Mexique" Paris, E. Leroux, 1891
*"Histoire de la nation Mexicaine" 1893

Notes

References

: cite web |author=aut|Rincon, Paul |year=2008 |date=2008-05-22 |title=Crystal skulls 'are modern fakes' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7414637.stm |work=Science/Nature |publisher=BBC News online |accessdate=2008-05-22: cite journal |author=aut|Riviale, Pascal |year=2001 |date= |title=Eugène Boban ou les aventures d’un antiquaire au pays des américanistes |journal=Journal de la Société des américanistes |url=http://jsa.revues.org/document1855.html |format=online reproduction |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=pp.351–362|location=Paris|publisher=Société des Américanistes |doi= |issn=0037-9174 |oclc=1765786 fr icon: cite journal |author=aut|Sax, Margaret |coauthors=aut|Jane M. Walsh, Ian C. Freestone, Andrew H. Rankin, and aut|Nigel D. Meeks |year=2008 |month=May |title=The origin of two purportedly pre-Columbian Mexican crystal skulls |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |location=London |publisher=Elsevier Science |volume=Article in Press |issue=accepted manuscript|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2008.05.007 |issn=1095-9238 |oclc=36982975: cite journal |author=aut|Smith, Donald |year=2005 |title=With a high-tech microscope, scientist exposes hoax of 'ancient' crystal skulls |url=http://www.si.edu/opa/insideresearch/articles/V9_CrystalSkulls.html |format=online edition|journal=Inside Smithsonian Research |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Office of Public Affairs |volume=9 |issue=Summer |oclc=52905641 |accessdate=2008-04-14 : cite journal |author=aut|Walsh, Jane MacLaren |year=2005 |month=Spring |title=What is Real? A New Look at PreColumbian Mesoamerican Collections |journal= |url=http://www.anthropology.si.edu/outreach/anthnote/anthronotes_2005spring.pdf |format=PDF online publication |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=pp.1–7,17–19|location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of Natural History Anthropology Outreach Office |doi= |issn=1548-6680 |oclc=8029636 : cite journal |author=aut|Walsh, Jane MacLaren |year=2008 |month=May/June |title=Legend of the Crystal Skulls |journal=Archaeology |url=http://www.archaeology.org/0805/etc/indy.html |format=online edition|volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=pp.36–41 |location=New York |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |doi= |issn=0003-8113 |oclc=1481828 |accessdate-2008-04-16