1999 Zulu Mourning King Coconut Glapion W/ queen beads

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Click to SIGN UP FOR MY STORE UPDATES!! YOU ARE BIDDING ON ANOTHER AUCTION Mardi Gras Collectibles This is a set of items that I have from my private collection!! This coconut is an unpainted coconut. The Black velvet cover is permanantly attached to the coconut. The flowers and other decorations appear to be hand sewn with metalic thread. The top crown seems to be on the coconut itself and is encrusted with glitter and rhinestones. The bottom band of the crown is fur. I am assuming that the fur is not real. The time that must have gone into the making of this item is incredible. This funeral mourning coconut is extremely rare and you may NEVER see an item like this up for sale again. ********************** ******************************************* Roy Glapion is Credited with Helping Bring Zulu to the Forefront of Mardi Gras tradition. Breaking with the tradition of formalizing the selection of royalty at their annual pre-Mardi Gras Coronation Ball, members of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club crowned Roy E. Glapion Jr. at his home on December 26, as the City Councilman and former Zulu president lay stricken with colon cancer. Hours before he passed away two days later, at age 64, the club, by voting unanimously not to elect a replacement king, honored one of Glapion's dying wishes: to go down in the record books as King Zulu 2000.As a result of lawsuits filed by people alleging injury from thrown coconuts, obtaining insurance covering the club against coconut-related liabilities had become prohibitively expensive. As a result coconuts were not tossed from Zulu floats for the first time in 1987. With the "Golden Nugget," as the krewe's official throw is known, threatened with extinction, Glapion got in touch with William Jefferson, then a state senator (he now serves as U.S. Congressional representative for Louisiana's 2nd District). Jefferson suggested that since t was already a revised statute on the books exempting beads and certain other throw items from liability, Zulu might want to try for a legislative provision exempting coconuts as well. Jefferson offered to author a coconut bill and introduce it to the legislature, and Glapion agreed to come to Baton Rouge to lobby for its passage. Glapion tapped Price, then Zulu's director of public relations, to assist him in making the case to the legislators. They knew going in that while certain New Orleans-area legislators wouldn't oppose the bill, convincing them to rally their colleagues wouldn't be easy. So Glapion had Price prepare a statement explaining the history and significance of the Zulu coconut, and how float riders went about handing them out to paradegoers. Many legislators were under the impression that the Zulus were "hurling coconuts all over the place," says Price, who brought a couple of samples to Baton Rouge for a show-and-tell presentation before a key legislative committee. "In fact," he recalls, " I just kind of tossed [a coconut] to the committee, and one of the guys caught it. And they saw how light it was." But even more important to garnering support for the bill, says Price, was Glapion's "even-handedness, his low-keyed approach to everything. "You had to see the guy in action...," Price continues. "He would never raise his voice. He was always logical. He would look you right in the eye with that little soft delivery of his, and he hit right to the salient point. And you couldn't deny that. You might not agree with him, but you had to respect him." Then-Governor Edwin Edwards signed the "coconut bill" into law on July 8, 1997. A few weeks later he was on hand for a celebration in New Orleans called "Bringing the Coconut Home," which featured a second-line paradeThanks to Roy Glapion Zulu coconuts are agian tossed from the floats of Zulu into the arms of raucus revelers.This coconut was made to honor the man and the tradition. You have never seen this before and you will never see it again. This is truly a one of a kind item. The fact that this came into... read more

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