Red Goose shoe premium

sndman60 · Aug 7, 2008

Hi all, I went down to NC to visit my mom this past weekend and was introducing her to metal detecting. We went down to a local park that has a very large lake on it. This is a very popular place and has been the spot for many of our family reunions as with other families as well. We found the usual stuff like pull tabs, bottle caps, and the assortment of clads. I hit a good signal ringing 78-80 vdi at about 4.5 in deep. Thinking I had a nice dime I dug down about 5 in or so and found this token. I know, it's in ruff shape. It is a "Red Goose" shoe premium. From what I have found out, The Red Goose Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri, began selling shoes 1869. The company was originally Gieseke-D'Oench-Hayes, after its founders, but when the company became advertising conscious in the early 1900's, they changed the name. Gieseke is German slang for "goose" so the goose image came naturally. The red color came later when, during the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, some stock boys painted the goose on the cartons red. The head of the company liked the idea, and so Red Goose Shoes was trademarked in 1906. The Red Goose shoe company was bought out around the 40's by Buster Brown. When you bought a pair of Red Goose shoes you got a golden egg. Inside the egg was things like candy, toys, or tokens. And now, you know the rest of the story (Paul Harvey). Contrary to appearance, it is my best token of the very few I have. Thanks for reading and checking this out.