Mardi Gras Tokens

Here are two I have in my collection. They are the bronze "collector" versions of the lightweight aluminum versions thrown from parade floats.

They were designed by Henry Alvin Sharpe (1910-1982), an artist who made his home in New Orleans, Louisiana at the time. Sharpe was a noted painter, illustrator and sculptor of jewelry and small decorative items, but is best remembered (at least by numismatists!) as the inventor of the Mardi Gras doubloon.


Obverse and reverse of 1967 "Infant Mystics" Mardi Gras doubloon.






Obverse and reverse of 1979 "Poseidon" Mardi Gras doubloon.

Couple from the Navy, Don't know if they had a float or just passed them out. Haven't seen any for the other branches of the service yet.

A couple of interesting throws this one from a river gate mess in downtown NOLA. Casino's,money and politico's interesting reading on google


The next one is also interesting on how it got started and their name."One of the group was a part owner of the Imperial Laundry. He suggested they make use of some convict suits from the Atmore Prison Farm that had just been washed and cleaned. There were no hats or masks with the suits, so they purchased Chinese coolie hats and masks from a street vendor and proceeded to parade on foot ..."
Mobile ALA

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Guess this is one of those things that you had to be there. As near as I can figure out. It was a TV program in NOLA at the time.


Plagued with attendance problems, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition has the distinction of being the only exposition to declare bankruptcy during its run. I guess being in the parade and the throws didn't help attendance

Reverse all the same

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