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Vintage Sterling Silver Overlay
Reversible Bear Pendant
HK Item #P521

vintage sterling silver overlay Reversible Bear Pendant

size
2 1/4" tall including bail x 2 1/2" long x 5/16" thick;
5/16" bail
material
sterling silver, Read about silver
hallmark
none
artist
unknown
condition
vintage, pre-owned, medium patina; no dents or deep scratches

About Native American authenticity.

vintage sterling silver overlay Reversible Bear Pendant

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Questions or more details.

Jewelry

Vintage Sterling Silver Overlay
Reversible Bear Pendant

P521 - $170 plus s/h
(ONLY ONE AVAILABLE)

Paula says - "This vintage bear pendant is 5/16" thick, which would make you think it's heavy. But it is hollow, so very light weight for its size. Excellent workmanship on the traditional overlay design - very precise with clean edges.

"In my opinion, this pendant shows design characteristics and workmanship of being Navajo made. But because there is no hallmark that we can attribute to a specific artist we can't legally sell it as Native American made - read more."

vintage sterling silver overlay Reversible Bear Pendant

vintage sterling silver overlay Reversible Bear Pendant

Store Policies

Native American Bear Symbolism

Bear is considered the most powerful of all of the animals and is one of the most popular subjects of Native American carvers. Bear is a spiritual guide and represents strength and self-knowledge. Bear has supernatural powers and great healing powers. Bear is a symbol deliberate action, introspection, soul and insight for the past and the future. The Bear is the guardian of the West an is one of the animals of the Six Directions. Bears are the main figure in the Mountain Way, an important Navajo ceremony. Bear claws are a traditional adornment to pendants and bracelets.

About Silver

100% solid silver won't tarnish but it is too soft to use for making jewelry - it could easily be scratched, dented and bent. Sterling silver has a small amount of one or more other metals usually copper, added to the silver. To be called sterling silver, the alloy must contain at least 92.5% pure silver. Sterling silver alloy is harder than pure silver but the added metals also can cause discoloration or tarnish.

Read more about silver.

What is Overlay?

Native American overlay pieces are made of two layers of sterling silver. The bottom layer is a solid piece while the top layer has a cutout design. The cutout layer is placed over the bottom layer and the two pieces are "sweated" together, heated so that they become one solid piece of sterling silver. The bottom layer, or background, that shows through the cut out portion of the top layer is often darkened for contrast.

Hopi silversmiths typically texture the background layer with hash marks while Navajo artists often leave the background smooth. Hopi artists tend to use geometric designs and symbols similar to those used in their pottery and baskets. Navajo silversmiths tend to create scenes depicting everyday life using people, animals, buildings and landscapes to tell a story - this style is called "overlay storyteller jewelry". Read more about overlay here.

Our Rescue Mission
of
Native American Indian Jewerly and Artifacts

Native American Jewelry blog tips and informationWe are in the vintage Native American jewelry rescue business and are passionate about finding new homes for used and vintage jewelry and artifacts. That's why we purchase Native American pieces from estates, inheritances, collection downsizing and New Old Stock (NOS) inventory from closed stores.

Often people contact us after taking a box of Native American jewelry to their local pawn shop and find that a pawn shop is mainly interested in melt value of the metals and not in preserving the beautiful historic pieces. To hear that people have considered selling these treasures for melt value makes us truly sad.

Melt value is usually far below what we would offer for the jewelry. Yet we can't pay retail price for items because of the time and cost involved in finding new homes for them. We have to research, often repair and restore the jewelry, photograph and list each item on our website, and sometimes hold pieces in inventory for years until the right buyer comes along.

We hope you'll find something special in our vintage shop that will complete yet another circle of our jewelry re-homing mission.

NOTE: Items in our Vintage Shop are either USED or NEW. They might come from inheritances, estate sales, private collections, and store liquidations. Many items are brand new (NOS, New Old Stock) and in perfect condition while others may show tarnish, scratches and other signs of use. Major issues will be described in detail and shown in photos. Vintage Shop items are sold as described and are not returnable.

Horsekeeping LLC - Definitions of Jewelry Age and Condition
©  2015 Horsekeeping LLC    © Copyright Information

Patina
A dark or colored film of oxidation that forms naturally on metal exposure to air and other elements. It is often valued for its aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Vintage
30 years or older.
NOS
New Old Stock. Retail store inventory from at least 10 years ago.
Pre-owned
An item that has been used.

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