Sterling Silver
NOS Sunface Ring
HK Item #VR318 - size 4 3/4

new old stock sterling silver Sunface Ring size 4 3/4

size	size 4 3/4
dimensions	3/8" tall
condition	NOS; excellent, new old stock
materials	turquoise, mother of pearl, coral, jet, Read about stones sterling silver, Read about silver
hallmarks	none
artist	unknown

new old stock sterling silver Sunface Ring size 4 3/4

CAN I HAVE A RING RESIZED?

Questions or more details.

Store Policies

Paula says - "In my opinion, this ring shows design characteristics and workmanship of being Native American 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.

"This ring is NOS (new old stock), made many years ago but never sold - it is brand new vintage!"

We leave the natural patina on our pawn jewelry because many of our customers like the old "vintage" appearance. If you'd like to clean up your silver jewerly, new or old, check out our handy silver cleaning and polishing cloth.

To Polish or Not to Polish

More Vintage Rings

New Rings

Bargain Barn Rings

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.

About Sunface Symbolism

The Sunface is found throughout Zuni art, from jewelry to weavings to pottery. It represents the sunlight and warmth that makes life and growth possible and brings playfulness and joy to children and good fortune and prosperity to families. The center of the circle represents the face of Sun. The two sections of the forehead are typically turquoise and coral and symbolize the continuous cycle of sunrise and sunset. The lower part of the Sunface is mother of pearl with rectangular eyes and round mouth of jet. Bordering the face is a circle of feathers, usually of mother of pearl and jet or coral.

About Native American Rings

Materials

Southwest Native American rings can be made from many materials but usually are sterling silver alone or embellished with turquoise, coral, jet, mother of pearl, petrified wood, abalone, lapis lazuli, jasper, gaspeite, malachite, spiny oyster, tiger eye, white buffalo stone, onyx, opal, bear claws and much more.

Styles

The styles of Southwest Native American rings are many and varied including bands, single stone, shadowbox, cigar band, pictorial inlay, cobblestone, corn row and mosaic inlay, storyteller, sandand tufa , cluster, petit point, needlepoint, snake eye, overlay, feather, leaf, channel inlay and others.

Navajo

Navajo rings are typically a sterling silver band, often heavy and/or elaborate. The band can be silver only or have stones that are set with various types of bezels. For more information on bezels, read my article Types of Bezels. If a Navajo ring is inlaid, the inlay pieces are usually separated by silver channels.

Zuni

Zuni rings are usually either stone-on-stone inlays (no silver channels in between the pieces), snake rings, snake eye, petit point or needlepoint.

Hopi

Hopi rings are most often sterling silver overlays with contrasting (oxidized) and textured backgrounds.

Read more in my blog post: Southwest Native American Rings

Horsekeeping LLC - Definitions of Jewelry Age and Condition © 2019 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.

Why isn't this item called Native American?

The US Department of the Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 and its recent Amendments require that items described as Native American or Indian be made by an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe. Furthermore, government regulations suggest that all attributions include the Native American Indian's name, tribe and federal tribal enrollment number. Because it is impossible to identify the artist for many vintage items, even if they are authentic Indian made items, we cannot and will not use the words Native American or Indian in association with such pieces.

Read about authenticity of Native American Indian jewelry.

Our Rescue Mission
of Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts

We 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.

Sterling Silver NOS Sunface RingHK Item #VR318 - size 4 3/4