The smaller bead was originally covered in gold leaf gilt. The trailed glass decoration was applied on top. Where transparent glass was trailed you can still see some gold underneath. The rest of the gold has worn away and some of the decoration has chipped off revealing the base glass which is not quite clear. This is an older version of 'wedding cake' beads going back to very early 20th century. The style changed later, dropping the gold leaf and replacing it with glittery copper frit 'aventurine' glass. The older style is more prone to damage.