Mardi Gras Doubloons

In 1959, H. Alvin Sharpe came up with the Mardi Gras doubloon, a coin shaped object that can be massed produced and would serve as a proper souvenir of a Mardi Gras parade.  The first to be tossed from a parade float were thrown by the Rex parade in 1960.  They were immediately embraced by the crowd.  A few years later, other parades joined in the doubloon frenzy.  Normally, the name and insignia of the parading organization is on the obverse, and the reverse often depicts the parade theme.

Mardi Gras doubloons are typically made of aluminum, or at least the ones tossed to the crowd are.  special doubloons are sometimes given to the officers, the king or queen, or the celebrity grand marshal to throw. These might have a different design, and might be a distinctive color, or thicker gauge.

Many Mardi Gras doubloons are simply aluminum minted with the appropriate designs, but doubloons can have color from being anodized.  Some parades have a limited mintage color, and these are sought by collectors.

At one time most parades threw doubloons.  This created an entire collecting group, and stores bought and sold doubloons just as coin shops buy and sell coins.  Then came the plastic cup, which could be decorated with the parade theme and name, and had an actual use.  Many parades dropped the doubloon.  Now, only a few throw them, and often in sparse quantities.  Collecting is having a slight resurgence, but is far from what it once was.

Unknown to many people, there are special doubloons made and sold to members of the parading, and even some non-parading organizations.  Many of these special doubloons are made in fine silver.  They are not to be tossed freely to the crowd, but do sometimes find themselves in the coin market.  Indeed, coin shops may even sell these.  One problem is there is no standard weight, so, while many are about an ounce, they must be weighed.  And the oxidized silver doubloons have much less silver in them then the fine silver ones.

Unfortunately, both aluminum and silver doubloon collections were lost in Hurricane Katrina.  Some collectors moved away from the source, and others became discouraged.  But some are still quite active.

Those minted as generic doubloons are of little interest to collectors.  Look for a parade name, not a party novelty item.