If you want to test them - run very hot water over a few until they are heated up. Sniff immediately for an odor. If Galalith, they will smell like wet dog or burned milk. I have heard from a number of people that they can't smell anything in any of the sniff tests so this method also depends on having a keen sense of smell.

A lot of Galalith beads I see on eBay are mislabeled as Celluloid or Bakelite. Those are the ones I can easily identify by the pictures. Most plastic beads are very difficult to ID by just the photo.

For themselves and others, the Chinese are well known for making very attractive, labor intensive, knock offs of their own beads from history. Even today, you can easily have anything copied in China.

And in the early 80's Kenneth Jay Lane realistically revived and popularized the 1920's -'30's "Oriental" look -but in gorgeous plastic. I recall in the late 70's, early 80's: intentionally walking past a Coral Gables, Miami, shop where it was advertised Kenneth Jay Lane was having a trunk show. By chance, he was standing in front of the shop. And I often wish I'd had the courage to say "hello." He looked at me and smiled. I kept walking.

As Fred suggested, rather from 80'-90'but still have no idea who made them and how...

If at all possible, get some material or beads made from known plastics (use the recycling codes) to use as reference material.

A summary of odors - some only apparent when hot needled or flame tested:

Phenolic resin - medicinal odor of phenol
Amber - pine
Celluloid (cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate made with camphor)- camphor
Galalith - wet dog or burned milk
Acrylic (Lucite) - no odor in hot water or reaming; fruity (over-ripe banana?) with hot needle
Polystyrene - smells like styrene, sometimes very strongly if newly made
Nylons (polyamides) - burned horn or hair
Horn - burned hair
Polyester - smells like polystyrene, but fainter
Polyethylene - burning candle wax or parafin
Epoxy - hard to describe, acrid odor that is distinctive once you've smelled it. I've seen the odor described as "sweet" but I disagree with that. However there are thousands of different epoxy formulations so I may not have encountered a sweet one. FYI I worked in an epoxy - based industry for 26 years.

These are the ones I'm personally familiar with, and I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of all the plastics that have been used to make beads (yet). I believe Carole Morris has studied plastic beads for quite a while so maybe she'll chime in!

In thinking about Celluloid as a possibility, I noted that camphor is actually used in cooking in India. So could the odor of celluloid possibly remind you of mild curry?

If you can get your hands on a white celluloid ping pong ball - they should be cheap enough - you can puncture the ball or otherwise abrade it to get a sample odor of camphor as it's found in celluloid plastic.

Good luck!