I believe this seller was a naive buyer himself.....
He was not primarily a bead dealer, and was very proud showing them to me.
I told him I doubted his beads, and he was, I think, genuinely surprised.
He did not know a lot about beads, we had a great talk, and I ID-ed a few of his other beads for him. He was keen to learn, but on these he was clearly misinformed.
This was at the show in the Tucson Convention Center, from the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society.