I saved this for a long time because I knew I wanted to have the time to read it. You may know all this, but if you really want to work on your Pete Fountain collection, there are doubloon clubs here in New Orleans that would be a good resource. The Crescent City Coin Club shows always feature several dealers with a lot of doubloons. Gulf South Coins has some doubloons, and I think there is a store somewhere off of Airline Highway, maybe on L&R Road, that specializes in them. I have a few Pete Fountain doubloons myself, including a couple of the bronze/brass ones, but none I could stand to part with!
Great articles on an overlooked piece of American history. I picked up a 10 kt. Gold piece from 1966 with the Mad Hatter on it. It was in perfect condition. I wish I still had it.
Cool thread! I picked up a mini throw collection a few months back. I will post a few here. The obverse is the Pete Fountain Mardi Gras, but reverse is St. Patrick's day 1970.
Have some wooden ones. I think the plastic ones were made to go on a string of beads and are blank on the reverse.
The Half/Fast Walking Club also used St. Patrick's Day (and eventually Irish-Italian Day, or some such holiday) as an excuse to walk around town drunk off their arses. So they issued doubloons using that years Mardi Gras obverse with a different reverse for the St. Patrick's Day theme. The first year they did this was 1970 - you have it! It's not particularly rare (the 1970 1oz Silver St. Patrick's Day doubloon is very rare), but it is cool to have.
I have been in touch with a couple of New Orleans locals with eBay stores, giving them my "want list" and they have been helpful. I am supposed to be in New Orleans next year (my wife has a conference to attend), so I will have time to explore the various swaps, shows, and dealers. I hope to finish my collection then. It won't be everything issued but it will hopefully be a complete collection of thrown doubloons.
I've added a bunch of dual colors to the collection. Sometimes these were thrown but you were very lucky to catch it. There were vicious battles to get one if you caught a glimpse of one being thrown (a very distinctive look compared to the regular throws). I just bought them off eBay, but the hunt was fun!!!
As kids we roamed in packs. To hang out and play with others packs and we seem to be smarter then. A mile from home was nothing. Hanging out with friends was great