The goat-head is formed in embossed sheet gold halves (left and right) and carefully detailled. The eyes were probably once enamelled. The neck is decorated with filigree. The hoop is formed of two twisted and one flat wire coiling round an inner gold tube. The loop in the goat's mouth closes the hoop.

Representations of woman wearing similar earrings on terracottas and bronze mirrors suggest that most of these earrings were worn with the head at the front but upside-down.

Lion-head earrings are the earliest type in the long series of animal-head hoop earrings. Lions, rams, bulls, goats, antelopes, stags are the most commonly found. They seem to have been first developped in Etruria (Italy) but have been found in most parts of the Greek world. The garnet suggests that the earring was produced during the hellenistic period, when colour became an important aspect of Greek jewellery.