Died 1908 (aged 73–74) | Name Eugene Boban | |
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Full Name Andre Eugene Boban-Duverge Residence Mexico City, Paris, New York City | ||
Eugène Boban or Boban-Duvergé (1834–1908) was a French antiquarian. He was the official archaeologist of the court of Maximilian 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.
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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 International Exposition (1867). In 1885 he had published a poster, Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la republica mexicana. In July 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. In 1891, he organized and published the Aubin-Goupil Collection of manuscripts, bought in 1889 by Eugène Goupil and now in the Bibliothèque nationale.
Ethnological objects from his collection were sold in Paris, 1908.
Questions of authenticity
A crystal skull originally sold by Boban, now in the British Museum, has been demonstrated to be a modern fake.
Published works
Boban's published works include: