but they are not getting culturally used in Africa, as far as I know. I think their own powderglass industry has taken off there for local use, at least in a current-fashion sense. More likely, these new Indonesian beads are purchased in Bangkok by Gambian dealers who bring them to the U.S.

It will get very confusing. Some dealers are better at keeping things separated, some are confused already, some aren't concerned about the differences and just want to sell beads. Navigate carefully!

I appreciated a couple of years ago that Ebrima Sillah was making an effort to keep the old Czech vinyl heishi separated from the new Chinese ones, so it was faster for me to get to what I wanted (the old ones)....