I love gold nugget jewelry, and when I spotted the shoulders on this ring - massive smashed gold nugs - I fell in love. I'm also beginning to really appreciate 19th century American-made jewelry, which this ring undoubtedly is. America hadn't really developed its own unique jewelry style yet. We were still copying English and Continental styles, and some of it is a little, let's say, "folksy" or "naive". The eagle is strangely proportioned, and on the underside the initials ED seem to have been carved by an amateurish hand.