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After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Kevin Donahoe developed the idea of collecting flooded and unflooded doubloons to benefit this project, as well as other projects. The following articles appeared in the Times-Picayune in 2005 and in the Times-Picayune in 2008 on the "Doubloons for Cancer" Project. An article also appeared in 2009 in Where Y'at Magazine on the 50th Anniversary of the Mardi Gras doubloon created by the Rex Organization. If you have any doubloons, please contact Kevin directly at: Kevindonahoe@aol.com
Original Article of This Article from Where Y'at
Mardi Gras certainly gives way to the senses like no other holiday. Savory king cakes, Popeye's biscuits, and enough booze to make Bacchus himself jealous. Our eyeballs take in so much imagery, from beautiful floats to the not-so-beautiful consequences of excess. And, for touch... well, I'll leave you to generate your own version of that sense's information.
But for me, the sounds of Mardi Gras remain the most prominent. No matter how old I get, the band's drumbeats, the tractor's rumble, and the horeses clopping hooves sound as they did when I sat atop a ladder. However, one clamors over the rest: the ringing sound of doubloons scattering in the street. Though I'm less apt to run after them now, it's as if they ring a bell in my memory, and I enjoy watching the kids scatter after them as I did once.
Kids have been running after doubloons for 50 years. This year's Mardi Gras marks the fiftieth anniversary of the doubloon. It all began with the eclectric H. Alvin Sharpe and the influential Darwin Fenner.
Born in Kentucky in 1909, Sharpe was a reporter, a sailor, and a successful artist and he never even made it to the seventh grade. His innate creativity also never really took to the courses in various European art schools, and he decided to follow his own artistic vision. He moved to New Orleans in 1931, painting murals on the ceiling of the New Orleans Board of Trade Building, and opened his own studio in the French Quarter. He produced artwork for state buildings in Baton Rouge after a chance meeting with Huey P. Long at the Roosevelt Hotel bar. His creativity was greatly influenced during his travels, etching archaic civilizations' histories and culture depicted on old medallions and coins. He also had a knack for inscribing words and images in metal.
What Mardi Gras lacked before 1960 were throws indicative not only to the Mardi Gras krewes but of Mardi Gras itself. The popular throws were generic glass beads, imported from places like Japan and Czechoslovakia. That is, until Sharpe crossed paths with Rex Captain Darwin Fenner.
In December 1959, Sharpe sent an orgent letter to Fenner proposing his most recent endeavor: the Mardi Gras doubloon. Fenner's main qualm was the safety issue of throwing metal objects into the masses (...as if throwing glass beads was any safer). So what better way for Sharpe to prove that his new, light aluminum prototypes were safe than by throwing them right in Fenner's face? And he did just that when he walked into Fenner's office. Astonished but not injured, he ordered 80,000 to be minted, 3000 of which were gold anodized. I can't imagine too many business deals have been made this way, but you can't expect conventional methods to apply to Mardi Gras. Though still uncertain of the doubloon's success, Fenner ordered them to be printed without the date so the krewe could throw them the following years if the idea didn't take off.
The Mardi Gras parade in 1960 did much more then disprove his uncertainty. It bascially gave Mardi Gras a greater sense of itself. The doubloon became the first endemic throw of New Orleans Carnival. The culture had been recorded in history, just as those old coins of yore.
Kevin Donahoe, a doubloon enthusiast who recycles and sell doubloons on www.symbolofhope.com to benefit people battling cancer, says, "I'd really like to see [collecting] doubloons make a comeback, because its the history of New Orleans that [are] on these doubloons."
Other krewes followed suit the following years, and over time, have made custom cups, beads, and whatever else specific to their krewes. As for the doubloons, I'm guessing the different designs are well in the millions now. Rafael Monzon, a member of the Crescent City Doubloon Traders, says that there are almost too many doubloons to collect. "Around 1984 or 1985, it became too much to collect, and many people stopped collecting doubloons. Over 40 different doubloons for one krewe becomes too much work and it's no longer fun for the collector." ...And many people thought Sharpe's idea was crazy. It's odd how crazy and genius sometimes coincide.
The Rex Organization has not only influenced Mardi Gras' development development over the years, but also grounded it. Due to the increasingly chaotic disorder, city officals were considering canceling Mardi Gras altogether, so Rex established an orderly day parade in 1872. The founders were trying to save two things: 1) Carnival, and 2) the city of New Orleans," says Rex official Stephen Hales. Rex also sent out official edicts, or "invitations," to train stations in major American cities in order to attract tourism, which had taken a dive after the Civil War. Hale says, "it worked out very well. The hotels were over-whelmed and the tourists had a wonderful timeThey pulled it off." They are reviving this tactic to revitalize the post-K tourism industry.
The doubloon would not be the only contribution that Darwin Fenner would bring to Carnival.He brought back the traditional Boeuf Gras which is the big, white cow float. Hale says, "if a 16th century French peasant was to time travel here and see the Boeuf Gras, he or she would know what everyone was celebrating."
ranted, they didn't have a tractor pulling a massive fake bull in those days. Instead, they would parade the fattest cow through the streets while butchers and cooks followed behind it, and an elegant Mardi Gras ball is not where the cow would end up. Fenner also sent a young, ambitious artist to train overseas in hopes that he would return to design new, innovative floats for Rex. This ambitious artist was Blaine Kern. Enough said.
Hales says, "Darwin Fenner was a very energetic, enthusiastic man with a vision for renewing old things."
This year, the Rex Organization distributes a commemorative doubloon for the 50th Anniversary. The face is a recreation of the original 1960 design, while the other side resembles a Rex medallion from the late 1800s (which were distributed among members and not thrown to crowds). It is a little thicker than your standard doubloon. The special doubloon comes with an historic booklet, and all proceeds support local charter schools. The Rex Organization is an avid supporter of education, and their latest cycle of grants exceed $150,000. After all, their motto Pro Bono Publico means "For the Public Good."
No doubt the new Rex doubloon is a hot collector's item already. Monzon says of the website www.crescentcitydoubloontraders.com, "I normally get 400 hits a day, but since they issued that doubloon, I've been getting three to four thousand."
I wrote in an article last year about how easy it is to take Mardi Gras for granted. We are all so immersed in it that we tend to forget where it comes from. Hale says, "I'd like to think we are getting close to the golden years of Carnival (later 1800s/early 1900s) with not just the designs, but also the engagement with the community."
So if you're curious about one of the most unique festivals in America, just listen. Everything you hear tells a story.
If you wish to donate doubloons,Contact Kevin.
