What Does C. Mean

[Pele012]

17 across picture of a polar bear, a ring, C. . 7 letters and 3 letters. We think its bearing something.

Clue is; Supporting claim of wheel dismantled

[mac44]

bearing out

[dannyk13]

Bearing out

[JJ109]

Bearing Cap ?

[ProfessorMaisie]

C' can represent Ut (Ut was the first note of the scale which is now Do, and it's always C in the fixed-Do system).
But that only gives BEAR+O+UT when the wordplay/definition of the clue leads to BEARING OUT.
Maybe it doesn't have to be that precise (the bear picture alone = BEARING?) because BEAR+RING doubles the R anyway, and I can't see how 'C' alone can give OUT.