While we were with Jeff, a friend of his was there who offered to show us some beads to buy. He had two strands of the beads we see here. At first, he said these were 'found in the ground, and recovered one-by-one.' I scoffed at that, and probably said I didn't believe it. He then said, 'the beads are new, but made from old glass.' I didn't believe this either.

At some point, Jeff told me they were just new beads, but that the chap would be firm on the price if I wanted to buy them.

All the time this was going on, I was looking at the beads with my hand-lens—and I was surprised by what I saw in the enlarged view. All of these beads are peppered with tiny hemispherical indentations—like gas bubbles that have broken. The beads were so odd, I decided to buy them, even though I instantly recognized that the red glass was not the opaque copper-red or brick-red of antiquity—but rather is some modern red glass.

JDA.