Silver belt buckle with Bear

I got this yesterday at church rummage sale, was on a leather belt echo en Mexico, belt had snaps to undo the buckle so, not sure if original from Mexico. Buckle doesn't have any markings but I did the acid test and it's sterling.
Does anyone recognize this type of buckle or where it came from ?

Thank You

Billy D.

 

Billy, this is one is Native American (so they say) it has turquoise. I don't know what your has around it. The bear is also not the same.
Maybe @komokwa can determine.

 

I have a couple of these vintage Abalone & Aplaca silver ( not real silver..) , metal boxes from Mexico.......so I'm going with that attribution for your buckle....oh....the belt too !!

 

That chip turquoise is found in many places.....but the buckle looks Mexican too !

 

If it was Mexican silver.....you'd expect to see some marking.......maybe not always.....but mostly.

 

I seen a bear just like mine on native one.

 

That's nice.
but that doesn't make yours native made.
" Just cuz a cat has here kittens in an oven....don't make em biscuits ! "

 

Googling 'walking bear silver' gets me buckles & bracelets with this motif, one very similar to the one Huntingtreasure showed us. Most seem to be IDed as Navajo. Alas, adding 'abalone' to the search terms did not improve matters.

 

It looks Mexican made, inspired by Southwest NA.
For decades Mexico has produced items inspired by Hopi and Navajo silver overlay. It often ends up being sold as NA. The bear design is very nice, but pretty generic.

 

Okay, Thanks everyone. Well since it was on a Mexican belt, I guess it was Mexican made inspired by Native Indians, Thanks.

 

It's very nice Billy, someone will want it .. Joy.

 

Not easy to tell from a photo but it sort of looks like there is brass showing on the front. It could be tarnish but in this photo it looks rather like worn silver plate.

 

The grizzly bear is a state symbol of California, as I suspect you know.

Debora

 

But they have been extinct since 1924.

 

¿Y qué?

Debora

 

Grizzly bears? They aren't extinct or am I missing something

Oh ok, the California grizzly is extinct. A sub species of grizzly. Got it

 

California grizzly bears, a sub-species.

Debora