By: Mary Foster, Associated Press
KENNER, LA (AP).- They came in T-shirts and jeans to bid on crowns, scepters and capes of Mardi Gras kings and queens, or the jewels and coins tossed to their eager subjects. The glitzy pageantry and history of New Orleans’ Carnival was sold to the highest bidder Thursday. The baubles might have been faux, but several hundred collectors eagerly bid on exhibits from the city’s once-thriving Mardi Gras Museum. Designed as a celebration of Mardi Gras when it opened in the suburb of Kenner in 1992, it closed after a souring economy cut into tourism and the city, like many communities around the country, was forced to tighten its budget and cut back on what it funded. From towering costumes covered with plumes and faux jewels, to an 1891