Thank you for showing/sharing this old, blackened? candy ball looking thing, I dare not name it here...anywhere else is fine! The pics I have & attached didn't have a name of the bead, what's in a name, well alot of us prefer our names we give/borrow(ed) from others. Maybe your's has one, here's the best place to share/learn as you already know. I don't have a name yet for your new raised, bumpy, multi-eye? bead - it looked familiar, & I did find it in these pics found in my ever-growing Chinese bead archive. Can see, it, too, appears to have been found along w/the same style/type selection that enough Art Deco era style Chinese export bead jewelery seems to share. With the bookchain style jewelry there appears were many examples sent over from China pre-WW11, an explosion of export Chinese jewelry seems to have happened during 1920-1940; most jewelry I shop thats for sale like these, are dated then (Art Deco) by their owners, knowingly or not, right! While her admirers share how Miriam Haskell had many competitors producing items mirroring her would you call Oriental (revival?) line? Either some of the beads the earlier makers used were by then already were antique and/or 'vintage' - or - they simply were new & maybe with more being made every day until design/examples were retired. There aren't any Chinese bead cards that recorded dates of any of their manufacture...are there? If no, then finding out the era assembled becomes important for dating them. Haskell started business in the 1930's I am led to believe from her followers that share parts of her life story on the net, considering she may have started selling even earlier as a novice/beginner/admirer, maybe her mom had quite an eye for beads/jewlery, too, many members here can/will relate none the less. She could have assembled jewelry thats older then her new company's line (starting in the 1930's) is the point to consider.

Most may know in 1940's that Haskell clasps for the first time are signed & show her company's US patent #, that's where the all important date, if a date is important & to anyone, isn't that where it comes in as any help to an admirer/researcher concerned with assiging date/period of time with any one/set of beads. Her unsigned 1930's necklaces have been identified by her admirers usually by comparing to other 'known' examples that I imagine some were found with their original sale price tag to authenticate while the others being scrutinized/autneticated in other ways (material/style/clasp comparisons) - and with fakes/copies all along the way to ever avoid.
If Haskell was inspired by earlier beads/necklaces she had seen, then those unsigned Chinese bead necklaces that aren't Haskell (unsigned/signed) pieces very well would/may be even older then Art Deco. Again though, the explosion of Chinese jewelry into the U.S. doesn't seem to have quite happened pre 1920, so that the amount of older antique items still in circulation are seldom seem/harder to find in the normal places. What I consider is an antique may be in different terms/time periods then someonelse might.

I wish I could contribute more, other then a pic, member Mel was right about those who do very little to nothing here, she admittingly meant members like me, I tried to change Kirk's name back from Jirk only the edit was too old, I did try to change to better behavior Mel, what are you gonna do.

I enjoy Chinese beads, though, beadiste, you are the only member here to come to mind, thats had any/most interest in keeping some sort of constant supply of reads & beads comin' for the rest of us, like me, who lurk, and wait for more than just the same old threads about beads already discussed at length, rather the more common beads and threads of the rare beads that I am also unfamiliar with and contribute zero other then admiring/gawking. Your bead is either common or not, been discussed at length or not, though I only have this one pic in my archive, now I have two more...now thanks to you! Yes, thank you. Having a bead in a collection/inventory and having a mere photo in an archive - you can see that both persons can be envious of the other. Bought any beads lately?! Yes! Guilty.

Since Chinese beads are hardly ever being discussed here the past oh, many years now if one were to do a search of the forum's archives, I'm interested to find out more details/less dates & time periods - as you are, beadiste, though this is how I would go about dating your bead with only this knowledge above. It may well not even be from China, just like the mosaic turquoise bead (seen in eBay pic) I tried to resurect an old thread on these last week or so ago. These Art Deco bookchain bracelets/necklaces appear to be made from beads exported from China, though it isn't unbelievable that the Chinese imported those and other admirable beads, beads like you may show.

There, at least I tried to contribute something...anything, of any real value! Please do agree/disagree/lurk/post at your leisure. Nick