Looks like the 1990 type to me. There's always one or two busted ones in every strand.
I got a bunch of those and on many of the strands was Pyu beads and lots of the very old pumteks. That was the reason I bought the beads in the first place. So far they have paied for themselves.

I have 2 PumTek beads for sale at my store (Anthropoasis) I have a lot of photos of them for each add.
Check out those photos for a comparison.

You are calling your beads "old" or "very old" then saying they are from strands you bought in the 1990s, so what do you mean by "old"?

That's right Rosanna. I bought about 7 strands of contemporize Pumtek beads only because they had on them some GR8 Pyu beads and some very old Pumteks.
On each strand there was about 3-4 old punteks and maybe 1-2 Pyu culture beads.
I sold several of these to Pumtekman and still have at least a dozen old pumteks and Imade a strand of Pyu beads .,. I also found several Longevity Dzi's mixed in with these Pumtek's as well.
All strung on straw. It looked like to me that whoever was putting these beads together didn't know the difference between this type of beads.
I spent about $130.oo for the hank and have made at least $2000.oo off of
those strands. Happy hunting all

I call them "OLD" because they are so worn out at the ends and very smooth to the touch. And....I have found that not all "OLD' Pumtek's are high contrast.
So I post many photos so the buyer can decide. I'm no expert so it's up to the buyer to make the choice as to tererage.

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=57501&iZz=57501&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=64217&iZz=64217&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0

Check these out Roasanna. These are all the beads (except the round beads. So whoever was in charge of putting these strands of Pumtek's together dropped the ball.
I bought mine in something like 1998ish.....
From a well respected bead seller. I traded some granite slabs. He tossed in some (a hank ) of Pumteck. It was several years later that I
looked through them and was very suppressed.
I think I might have posted a question HERE AT THE FORUM. I really like this forum...
If I did you could search for that post. That would give a hint as to when I first noticed that there were some strange beads mixed in with these "now nearly worthless" Pumtek's.
I hope this doesn't start a feeding frenzy of collectors buying bulk Pumtek's..."buried thunder" beads.
I hope this hasn't been too boring.....But at least you have all the facts that I can contribute...

Bead Cool.......Dannoh, aka...Odan, aka....Capt Longline

more photos

so you are saying the Pumteks are no more then approx 100 years old.

why did you come to that conclusion..

just because these are made from fossilized palm wood instead of the traditional Pyu Agate material?

I feel I have a number of antique and ancient Pumtek beads with wear and patina which could only have been acquired through hundreds of years of having been handled.

After finding out from a local Pumtek expert that my bead is around 100 years old, I was thinking of glueing the two halves together, and possibly having a gold band added as a repair to make a distinctive collectible bead.

But right now I am fooling around with just leaving the bead in two pieces, since they are almost equal. Here is one concept with 14K gold corrugated beads and granulated vermeil beads.

Love this. Would not put the broken bead back together. So much more interesting this way.

Found this image - another idea for using broken beads - make pendants!

Broken beads are common Roseanne....I've seen and received money for broken Longevity dZi's And I've seen a lot of broken beads used in Asia.
Ring's and Penchants mostly. Most of those capped Pame Rika beads are ancient with cracked ends.
And, as we all know, I some cultures beads are even chipped and ground into medications.
It seem to me, that a bead never runs out of usefulness.
When I asked around overseas, the answer I got the most was
" that was grandma's favorite bead. Or a brother or parent. They help us to visualize the person we are thinking about.
The photos you posted look very much like broken beads in use that I've seen and was unable to buy because of that reason, (to remember someone)
So....keep on beading
Your stuff liiks GR8

I like the scalloped shape it creates at the neckline when you snake your wire back down through the appendages and trim with the tiny red beads, instead of using headpins for the dangles. I love the stacked black and white too. Great mix of textures and pleasant waves of pattern and flow. Nice!