A Mardi Gras Story

Cheech9712 · Jul 31, 2022

CoinCorgi said: ↑

Throw me something, mister!

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Nice

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Cheech9712 · Jul 31, 2022

PamR said: ↑

?? Why is that?
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Kinda one of those what do we have here. Post makes me feel like wow. What do we have here

Razz · Aug 2, 2022

Scalloped blue 1998 Aquarius

Joseph1980 · Oct 27, 2023

CoinCorgi said: ↑

When I was a kid growing up in New Orleans ('63 - '74), I always looked forward to Mardi Gras season and the prospect of catching the myriad doubloons thrown from the floats in the various parades around town. Each year Mardi Gras Krewes would celebrate the season with a different theme. The throws the Krewe members would toss to the throngs of onlookers typically included doubloons made specifically to illustrate that year's theme.

It was imperative that we get as many doubloons as possible from each parade so that we could then go to doubloon swaps and trade the extras for those doubloons we were not able to catch, or from parades we were not able to attend. I guess this helped foster my life long interest in coins!

The typical throw doubloon was produced from 15 gauge aluminum with a diameter of 39mm (dollar sized), and nominally weighing 4.5gm. Also, typically, each Krewe would produce doubloons of various colors. This included plain aluminum and various anodized aluminum colors (gold, red, purple, copper, green, blue, etc.). These were the doubloons that made up a majority of our childhood collections.

In addition to the typical throw doubloons described above, each Krewe also was known to make special doubloons which were rarely thrown from the floats, but were more typically given out as favors to friends of the Krewe members, to attendees at the various Balls held by the Krewe before or after the parade, etc. These included doubloons made from heavier gauge aluminum, dual- or tri-colored anodized aluminum, solid brass, solid bronze, antiqued bronze, solid copper, and even 1 oz of 0.999 silver.

Despite the popularity of all the big name Krewes such as Bacchus, Rex, Endymion, Hermes, Elks, Pegasus, Zulu, etc., my favorite "parade" to attend was the one put on by none other than Pete Fountain. It was not a typical parade with floats and bands and flambeaux, but instead was a walking unit known as Pete Fountain's Half/Fast Walking Club.

Being a huge fan of Jazz even as a kid, I enjoyed watching Pete Fountain and his fellow musicians strolling down St. Charles Avenue on their way from the Garden District, thru Lee Circle, across Canal Street and into the French Quarter. My dad worked in the office building at the intersection of St. Charles and Poydras St. (the Shell building), so we would get up early on Mardi Gras Tuesday, head downtown and claim a premier spot on the office building steps overlooking the street that was soon to be alive with jazz clarinet and the colorfully costumed Half/Fast Walking Club of Pete Fountain. If luck was mine, I would manage to get one of the Copper anodized aluminum doubloon throws that the drunk band members would toss into the crowd on occasion. Copper was not a common color for doubloons at that time, so this was just another reason this was my favorite parade.

Recently I've been cataloguing all the doubloons that my two brothers and I managed to collect and save from when we were kids. While doing so, I became somewhat nostalgic and obsessed with my Pete Fountain collection of doubloons. It was a mere 4 or 5 doubloons dating from '69 thru '74, so I began researching what a complete collection of Pete Fountain doubloons would consist of. I happened upon a catalogue/checklist of doubloons compiled by Michael G. Pfefferkorn and published in the July, 2007 Missouri Journal of Numismatics. Needless to say, I am now on a quest to put together a complete collection of doubloons produced by Pete Fountain's Half/Fast Walking Club.

As I have discovered, there are numerous doubloons other than the common throw doubloon that we caught on parade day. Here is a sample of some of what I have been able to pull together (mostly from eBay).

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The Half/Fast Walking Club started producing and throwing doubloons in 1966. I have a complete collection of that year's doubloons. Taking a cue from Mr. Pfefferkorn, I have decided to also start my own catalogue of the doubloons issued. Mainly because I didn't like some of the cataloguing methods employed by Pfefferkorn, but also because he has many errors (mostly typos) as well as several omissions and mistaken inclusions.

Here is a sample of my catalogue (a work in progress), showing the entry for the 1966 doubloons.

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Thanks for letting me share. Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Let's see your collection of Mardi Gras doubloons!!!
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John Anthony said: ↑

Great stuff! Thank you for sharing the stories and doubloons.
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Joseph1980 · Oct 27, 2023

Cheech9712 said: ↑

Kinda one of those what do we have here. Post makes me feel like wow. What do we have here
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A Mardi Gras Story

Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

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A Mardi Gras Story

Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

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