Covered in Bohemian garnets and bearing an enameled shield with 13 stars, this small brooch owned by first DAR President General Caroline Scott Harrison and now part of the DAR Museum collection has much to say about identity. The pin dates to around the time her husband, Benjamin Harrison, was elected 23rd president of the United States in 1888. Garnet jewelry from Bohemia, a region in present-day Germany and the Czech Republic, was quite popular then.
By the last quarter of the 19th century, candidates’ wives were a visible part of presidential campaigning. Both Mrs. Harrison and Anna Morton, wife of Benjamin’s running mate Levi Morton, appeared on posters promoting their husbands’ ticket. It is not clear whether Mrs. Harrison wore the pin while campaigning, or if perhaps it was an item she acquired during her time in the White House. Clearly, it is a piece of jewelry meant to illustrate patriotic sentiment.
The pin is also an example of an item made for the American market by craftspeople in other nations, a practice that began well before the country was founded. The design closely resembles eagles used in heraldry over the centuries. Outstretched talons, the curved ends of the wings and particularly the three-part tail echoing a fleur de lis—not the traditional fanned tail feathers seen in depictions of American eagles—are found on many European coats of arms.
The shield on the pin is not the squared shape seen on the Great Seal of the United States but a spade-shaped à bouche shield, which contains a notch where a lance would rest. Thus, European artists used imagery familiar to them to create a brooch depicting an eagle with wings outstretched to represent the expansive American nation.