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I found this ring among my grandfather's things. (He would be in his late 90s, I think.) I tried to do a reverse image search on it, but could not identify it's origin. There are many eagles on the sides of WW2 rings (that came back in the reverse image search).

On the inside, you can faintly make out the word "STERLING", or something very similar. On the top of the front, I see a partial word, "FIELD".

Is this a WW2 ring? If so, is it any ring in particular? If not, what is it?

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  • 3
    Doing a search for "civil war ordnance corps' images, starts to look close – CGCampbell Apr 29 at 0:30
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    There is an image of a less-worn example on Pinterest, which might help people with their research. – sempaiscuba♦ Apr 29 at 16:06
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    @RossPresser Yep. I figured it is likely to be an earlier/later evolution of the design, but unfortunately (as is the case with many images on Pinterest) there is no provenance information accompanying the image. – sempaiscuba♦ Apr 29 at 17:10
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    According to the Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms, the "shell and flame" was used by artillery between 1832 (pg 69) and 1851 (pg 246) and possibly also 1864-1872 - before that it was not used at all and after that it was used by the Ordnance Department only. I'd think a "field artillery" ring (since that is the consensus for what it may say) with that symbol should probably be in that period. However, since rings are not official government issue, there's no way to be sure of that. – Moshe Katz Apr 30 at 3:47
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    Does the mark above "sterling" look like a makers mark to anyone else? If so a better shot of the mark might identify the maker. 925-1000.com – AllInOne May 8 at 13:39
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+100

Too long to be a comment, though not really a full answer:

This is likely much older than WW2 or even WW1. That shell above the crossed gun barrels is a "bomb bursting in air", and likely dates the ring to before the Mexican American War.

Crossed gun barrels has long been used by the U.S. Army as the branch insignia, historically usually worn on the cap but now elsewhere on the uniform (shoulder?). However when present, all examples I could find with a shell as well had the shell superimposed over the junction of the gun barrels. the style of these gun barrels is also much older than that typical even in the Civil War.

  • 1833 regulations:

    enter image description here

  • 1858 regulation:

    enter image description here

  • 1872 regulation

    enter image description here

Artillery until very modern times was distinguished as being either Field or Siege, with the latter being much larger and heavier guns.

Sterling is a grade of silver: "containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper."

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  • I might suggest that the word "FIELD" followed by a space and, clearly, an "A" might be indicative of FIELD ARTILLERY. While the grenade device is interesting, a keepsake or souvenir type ring such as one might find at some off-post emporium or even at the purse exterminator, would not necessarily have to follow the dictates of regulation branch insignia. – R Leonard Apr 30 at 20:18
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Doing some more digging based off of the information in Pieter's answer (and not having seen CGCampbell's comment which says this same thing), I found the US Army Ordnance Corps uses the crossed canon and grenade symbiology on their insignia.

enter image description here

The crossed cannons are representative of the Ordnance Corps's early relationship to the Artillery. The flaming bomb, also known as the shell and flame, represents the armament of days gone by, while the energy it connotes is applicable to the weapons of our own day

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