Correcting my error—The bead being discussed is an atypical 6-layer bead!

As sometimes happened in 20th C. chevron beads, the base layer of the star cane is actually two layers, of slightly different white glasses, that would be counted as one layer. Then, the brick-red glass has reverted, at the interior of that 4th layer, to green glass—which was the natural color of the glass before the copper colorant had been incorporated. It sometimes happens that the platelets of copper (that provide the opaque red color) revert back and the glass returns to green in those areas. This glass often appears to be "black." However a strong light would probably reveal it is a saturated green. (I have viewed this under a microscope and captured it in photos a number of times.)

So, there are "four layers" that are actually TWO layers—making it a 6-layer cane.

There are indeed five-layer canes, in which a "black" glass is placed next to a red layer (with no intervening white layer). But these are sloppy distinctive beads, and were most-likely not made by Moretti. The "black" glass is actually a deep saturated madder-red (probably colored with manganese). And there are beads with "black" external layers of this same glass.

I was my error to suggest the bead in-question were a five-layer bead. Jamey