We set the Wayback Machine all the way to the late 1400s/early 1500s for the above photo (photographer unknown) documenting actual Moctezuma II's headdress, the only surviving example from the Aztec empire. Mr. Twister and I saw it in Vienna, and it's so fragile that only a few may view it at a time in very subdued lighting (which turns
off the second people leave.)
Although the actual snatching away from the Aztec Emperor is unrecorded, its provenance dates to its appearance in the collection of the Archduke Ferdinand in Austria circa 1575, which coincides with the Age of Exploration and assorted aristo patronage/spoils of internecine Euro-warring. Past (wrong) restorations such as thinking it a mantle instead
of headdress have been removed (it has leather straps amongst the gold to tie it
on a head.) This fragile relic is astonishing in person....
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