Still sorting through my Chinese glass beads from the early 1990s, all purchased from Hands of the Hills, who got them in northern Thailand.
The Dunnings believed these beads to be products from the 1950s-80s, in contrast to the dark cobalt beads with worn patina and ends, which they thought could be a couple of generations old, perhaps dating to the Qing dynasty [court necklace beads?]

The beads on short strands in the middle display wear on the ends.
Colors vary from a dusty currant red to bright scarlet.

The beads on the left, in a necklace I strung in the early 1990s (which has always reminded me of black olives and cherry tomatoes, possibly why it never sold), show only very minimal wear around the holes, but are more carefully made than the bright red strand on the right.

I'd really like to know what colors of red are in that beaded shop sign from the late 1930s in the Japanese museum. I.e., is there any evidence at all that the Boshan glassworks made bright red cadmium/selenium beads before World War II?

The red beads on the wicker sewing baskets from the 1920s are a very different color - sort of a bubbly dark tourmaline red/pink.