Sterling Silver Overlay
Man in a Maze Ring
HK Item #VR400 - size 6 1/4

vintage sterling silver Overlay Man in a Maze Ring size 6 1/4

size	6 1/4
dimensions	3/4" tall
condition	vintage, pre-owned; round symmetric shank; smooth dark background
materials	sterling silver, Read about silver
hallmarks	none
artist	unknown

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

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vintage sterling silver Overlay Man in a Maze Ring size 6 1/4

Questions or more details.

Store Policies

What is the "Man In A Maze"?

The figure known as the "Man In A Maze," depicts a man entering or exiting a labyrinth. It is a theme seen on baskets from as far back as the nineteenth century and occasionally in Navajo silver art. Such depictions of labyrinths are also found in ancient petroglyphs (Native American rock art).

The symbol can represent a person's journey through life. The maze contains many twists and turns, meant to represent choices made in life. The center is round and dark, so the journey can be from darkness to light or vice versa depending on which way you are headed!

Some interpret the center as a representation of a person's dreams and goals. When you reach the center, you have reached your goals and the sun god there blesses you and helps you pass into the next world.

Another interpretation of this symbol is that the man represents the human seed and the maze is the womb. As the man enters the maze, he creates new life which represents reincarnation or eternal life.

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.

silversmiths typically texture the background layer with hash marks while Navajo artists often leave the background smooth. 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.

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 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, Turquoise, 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, cigar band, pictorial inlay, cobblestone, corn row and mosaic inlay, storyteller, sandcast and tufa cast, 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.

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 Overlay Man in a Maze RingHK Item #VR400 - size 6 1/4