I've been collecting Mardi Gras Doubloons for my entire life, which just so happens to span back nearly to the advent of doubloons in 1960. Doubloons, for me, evoke memories of childhood and growing up in New Orleans in a family that went to pratically every parade we could. Doubloons are a rich part of our cultural heritage and one that I enjoy being part of.
Get a taste of the celebration from years past and present from the links below:
If you would like more information on doubloons, collecting and valuation, click HERE for an unofficial guide to doubloon collecting.
photos from Krewe of Arabi 1963
short video of the Krewe of Venus, French Quarter 1966
short video of the Krewe of Endymion 2010
To access the collection, choose a category from the menu at the top of the page or from the descriptions below.
Listings for all other categories of doubloon-producing organizations are based on doubloons that I have in my collection and on a checklist from 1973/1974 produced by the Mardi Gras Doubloon Society. Click HERE to view the copy I have (used with checkboxes filled out). Entries from 1973/1974 and later will only be for doubloons that I have in my collection. Some of these organizations have also been included in the CCDT checklist and are complete.
If you have any questions or would like to swap doubloons or donate old checklists and/or doubloons, please e-mail me. Thanks for your interest and enjoy the site.
Doubloons I've gathered at parades and swaps for the current year. This page is updated frequently during the Mardi Gras season starting at Epiphany (January 6th) and running through St Patrick's Day (March 17th).
New Orleans area parading krewes. Included in this category are also parading krewes that started as balls (Sparta, Bards of Bohemia, Alpheus) and parading krewes that morphed into balls (Comus, Momus). This listing is based on the checklist published by the Crescent City Doubloon Traders. The actual CCDT checklist conatins much more detail and a relative value for each doubloon. I've also tailored some of the descriptions with my own naming preferences (see the guide above).
Mardi Gras day in New Orleans is host to several krewes composed entirely of built-up and decorated 18-wheeler flatbed trailers. Each individual "truck" is a separate organization and many have produced their own doubloons. Doubloon production for trucks has been always been very sporadic and none that I know of produce doubloons today.
Marching or walking units travel on foot as the name implies but this group also includes horse, motorcyle, scooters and myriad other motorized units. Units appear in various Mardi Gras parades, sometimes as their own mini-parades between the formal parading groups or in conjunction with other holiday parades. St Patrick's day clubs are in their own separate category.
There are several parades for St Patick's day in and around New Orleans. Often individual marching units within these parades produced doubloons and organizations that have their own parade or truck also participate and prodcued a special doubloon for the occasion.
Many organizations never parade but rather just participate in the tradition of the "tableau" featuring elaborate Mardi Gras balls.
This is a catch-all catergory for doubloons produced outside of the greater New Orleans area. Mardi Gras celebrations stretching from Galveston, Texas up to St Louis, Missouri and all across the Gulf Coast to Tampa, Forida have produced doubloons, some very consistently.
Doubloons produced by commercial, political, educational and other institutions are numerous and often are not persistent nor include dates. This category of doubloons, as well as doubloons from the other categories, can be accessed by entering a text string below and pressing the Go button to find any doubloons that match. No wildcards. Avoid punctuation. NOT case sensitive.