Will,
As a person that spent nine months in a two year period in the PRC mostly in a rural environment in the late eighties and also having many many trips to the PRC since on business I need to point out to you that the Chinese pride themselves on their skills in making “Old Stuff” whether egg shell porcelain ..... beautiful ceramic sculptural Ming period pieces ........ the finest ancient bronze and even items as common as beads. Rural Chinese make little to no money so if someone can make a few Yuan on the side making carved beads and such they will do it even if there is very little money ............. little is better than nothing.

I will say it again they pride themselves in being able to reproduce ancient items that will fool all but the most expert and many times even the experts have been fooled.

This said I’m going to give my two cents regarding the Coral beads and NONE of the other beads, that’s up to the other people on this thread that know far more than I do regarding most beads I see posted. From the image it looks like it has been dipped into paraffin and also looks like its been dyed, both these methods are common on some items the Chinese make to look as if they were old. If you take a little acetone on a kleenex and rub the coral I expect that you will see red on the kleenex. If you heat a straight pin tip to red and touch it to the Coral you will either get the smell of a candle or you might get a plastic smell .......... Give it a try and report back to all of us on this thread.

All my best Danny

P.S. I love the Chinese and their culture I spent years reading about and interacting with them, even learned enough Mandarin to get me in trouble. I have been blessed in all my activities with them and perhaps the best lessons came to me from a negative experience but all things good and bad have made me a much wiser person when it comes to human nature... Gotta love it!!