1960 Red Goose Shoes Working Large Golden Egg Dispenser, Signage & Golden Eggs

Red Goose Shoes was launched in 1869. The brand was known for its unique advertising promotions and premiums.

In the 1950's and 1960's Red Goose grew its business by creating sponsorships with child actors who promoted the brand on television by wearing the company's products. During the same period, the Golden Egg promotion was created, from which this lot is a rare surviving dispenser relating to this marketing effort.

The Red Goose egg dispenser measures 19-1/2" long, 12-1/4" in width, and 21" in height. A large Red Goose sits inside a yellow wooden crate. The goose is made of a papier-mache (pulp) type material with texturing to create the look of feathers and a neck and head that support a large yellow beak.

A customer who visited and purchased a pair of children's shoes at a Red Goose store would be allowed to turn the lever that dispenses a plastic golden egg that was full of inexpensive Cracker Jack-like surprises. 

Very few of these dispensers still exist because the papier-mache material was quite fragile and even more so when coupled with a metal egg holding chute, egg delivery ramp, and a rotating metal dispensing oval that drops the egg down the ramp when turning its lever.

This lot includes the original signage used to attract both children and adults to the golden egg promotion and two original plastic golden eggs. We tested the device, and the egg delivery system worked well.

The goose neck is in need of repair because the metal bolts that attach the neck to the yellow wood carton have torn through the papier-mache material. The goose neck and head still display well without the repair, but restoring the bird to its original glory would be a big plus.

The overall condition of the rest of the goose and painted body is very good, as is all the working metal egg dispensing parts. The large laminated signage is attached to a foam backboard that has been repaired with tape because of the separation of the laminate from the foam. The tape repair did not interfere with the lettering, color, and readability of the sign. 

We have seen another Golden Goose dispenser like this one, with similar damage to the metal neck bolt, sell for over $1,400. In addition to the dispenser, we have included a Red Goose Shoes promotional can coin bank that reads "Save the pennies and buy Red Goose shoes."