Thanks so much to Karlis K. for pointing out the BEADS article, and the subsequent education re. the Fichtelmountain origins of these "pentas" and others. My contact on Statia knew of the William & Mary archaeology, but not that it had been published.

I still think it is an intriguing question of why this particular bead was far and away the commonest found on this island, more widely distributed across sites than any other, and not found on any of the other 3 Caribbean sites surveyed. This is why I asked whether it was likely amongst the cheapest type that would have been stocked in Amsterdam (or produced at Fichtelmountain) at the time - which would suggest a preference on the part of the traders - or not, which would suggest some preference amongst the slaves on Statia. Since we will likely never find any contemporary accounts about bead use, adornment preferences, magical practices, or survivals of African culture amongst those slaves, it is the only possibly answerable question I can think of towards shedding light on what I, perhaps naively, see as a fascinating association between one island and one bead.