Just purchased a strand of faux coral to satisfy my curiosity. The seller thought the tubes were painted metal.

However when I fractured one, the material looks more like some sort of soft stone or maybe grey coral? It broke very easily and also abrades very easily. Or, is it a man-made material?

The beads vary in size and shape, and the holes also vary.

The unknown faux coral bead from the Beck collection that I posted recently, looks like the same type of bead.

I'm sure someone in the global BCN community recognizes it!