I am surprised that anyone would say the glass is not available. I suppose they may mean a stock of canes to be cut. I wonder if the actual technique is lost, or merely unused. A similar Chinese glass product routinely called "cat's eye" (and often implied to be actual quartz) is common among Chinese beads.

I formerly thought this glass was formed via the compositing of many fine thin hollow tubes. However, I now propose the gather may have been very bubbly glass—and these small bubbles, through elongation, have become micro-channels within the resulting cane—causing the chatoyant effect.

The perforations in the beads I have are so tiny, I made the assumption that the beads may have been drilled. I have an original necklace, perhaps from the '50s or earlier. I think mine are linked on wire—so an examination of the channel would not be easy.

Chris, please describe what you indicate by "red opal" (?). Are you referring to a slight dichroic/opalescent change in the tone of red, within the substance of the glass?

NICE BEADS by the way. Jamey