Every day in history is like a snowflake from heaven’s snowflake garden. It’s unique and it is fragile. Put it in your brain before it melts. This is what happened on August 29, 1533…
On August 29, 1533, the value of an Incan Emperor went through the roof. They became the rarest of the rare after Spanish conquistador Pizarro executed the last one. Why Pizarro didn’t keep Emperor Atahualpa in his original packaging to maximize his collector’s value is beyond the Guffaw’s comprehension.
Atahualpa in mint condition...
Atahualpa was the last of the 13 Incan Emperors. Pizarro, being a gentleman, offered him the choice of either being burned alive or strangled to death by a “garrote,” an iron noose. Atahualpa went with the latter (he wanted his body preserved to be mummified). Atahualpa was captured after agreeing to meet with Pizarro for a feast. He had an army of 30,000. Pizarro had an army of 180. Pizarro also had cavalry, guns and cannons. The Spanish had technology and the Incas did not. The Spanish slaughtered the confused Incas by the thousands. Next, they conqueored their land in what would become modern day Peru.
After it was all said and done, Atahualpa had bent corners and creases, not even worth a dog-chewed original Han Solo action figure or an original Superman comic used as a coffee coaster since 1961.
