Carnival organizations in New Orleans are called Krewes. Krewes, parades, and carnival crowds continues to grow until 1970 when city council put a limitation on the number of parades along the traditional route. There are many traditions and customs accompanying Mardi Gras and carnival season. One of these is the custom of throws. Many hours are spent on the production of beads and trinkets to be given away at the parade.
Some throws are unique such as doubloons.
Throwing doubloons was introduced in 1960 by Rex. Since then collecting them has become a major hobby. A doubloon is a coin like object about the size of a U.S. silver dollar. Doubloons usually contain the symbol of the krewe on one side and the year and theme of the parade on the other. Another tradition is the wearing of masks.