Jeez, where do you find these treasures?? I found these on Etsy, similar, but not opalized, and not the same faceting as yours.

These "Russian" cut beads were, according to one source, made by the Ornela factory before it was merged into the Preciosa conglomerate, and also by the Atlas factory.

The Atlas factory made "satina" beads, 5-sided beads with corners cut in the "Russian" style, but is now no longer producing these beads because they cannot get the glass (according to one importer).

This importer says this type of bead was produced for rosaries, necklaces, and earrings mostly for Mexico and Brazil, but that the factory managers who know more about the history of the markets for these beads are all likely dead.

A pic is attached of the two different styles.
The satina beads have small 1mm+ holes.
The cylinders with 6 facets per end have large holes that will accommodate heavy cord, and appear to have been polished somehow after faceting.

The red opal beads appear to be Ornela products, based upon their cut.

Floor, do you have any info on the history of the Atlas factory?

I am surprised that anyone would say the glass is not available. I suppose they may mean a stock of canes to be cut. I wonder if the actual technique is lost, or merely unused. A similar Chinese glass product routinely called "cat's eye" (and often implied to be actual quartz) is common among Chinese beads.

I formerly thought this glass was formed via the compositing of many fine thin hollow tubes. However, I now propose the gather may have been very bubbly glass—and these small bubbles, through elongation, have become micro-channels within the resulting cane—causing the chatoyant effect.

The perforations in the beads I have are so tiny, I made the assumption that the beads may have been drilled. I have an original necklace, perhaps from the '50s or earlier. I think mine are linked on wire—so an examination of the channel would not be easy.

Chris, please describe what you indicate by "red opal" (?). Are you referring to a slight dichroic/opalescent change in the tone of red, within the substance of the glass?

NICE BEADS by the way. Jamey

"Opal" seems to be the term used by either the Czechs or the Czech importers to refer to a slightly clouded, milky version of various hues - pink, red, purple, blue, yellow, green...

The translucency is not uniform, and appears more as cloudy swirls in the glass.

The beads in the photo are maroon opal - my camera made the red too bright, they face up maroon. But hopefully the difference in transparency from bead to bead is visible.

The Chinese beads are a fiber optic glass, originally developed for laser and industrial applications IIRC. Such as fiberoptic cable and gun sights for tanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_fiber

I'm somewhat familiar with fiberoptic glass. As much as anyone who's interested in glass.

I think the "cat's eye" effect in Atlas glass AND recent Chinese glasses results from hollow tubules that run through the canes (from which the beads are made). How ever these are created (whether from composited rods, or bubbly glass), this is quite different from fiberoptic glass.

In fiberoptic glass, the strands of glass are so thin they become flexible. A mass of these fibers is used to transmit light—that has the distinct advantage of bending the light; and gets around the disadvantage of wires that corrode or corrupt, and have magnetic issues.

The difference is: in the Atlas canes (and similar) the glass has been fused into one piece and pulled into a cane. In fiberoptics, the strands of glass remain independent, though held together as a mass.

So I don't see that there is much similarity. JDA.

Available from an Etsy seller.

This block of White Fiber optic glass measures 4 3/4 inches by 4 5/8 inches by 1 1/8 inches and weighs 2.5 pounds

Photos were taken under sunlight while wet

Fiber optic glass is a man-made glass composed of millions of glass fibers that have been fused together into a block. This creates a reflective characteristic known as cats-eye. This material can be slabbed easily with a diamond blade. It is a great material for making cabochons as well as flint knapping into arrowheads, spears or other shapes.

Another green block from the Etsy seller demonstrates what I remember from some of the early glass cabs I bought in this material - they go translucent if the fibers are viewed end-on. One of the Russian vendors at Tucson demonstrated the effect, which reminded me of the mineral ulexite.

I also recollect another early vendor explaining that the material had been developed for gun sights on weaponry - tanks, in particular.

These are the 5-sided "satina" tubes.

5-sided, some actual satin glass - aka "Atlas Glass," after the factory name? Or vice-versa? Anyone know the history of this term?

one characteristic of beads such as these- if the "fibres" are narrow drawn-out hollow bubbles then they can be coloured by saturating with liquid ink or varnish that seeps into the hollows by capillary attraction, and then can't rub off. i have a few where this appears to be the case, including satin effect bugles and rocailles...and also moulded czech "Atlas" beads from the 1950-60s of solid dense coloured satin glass, not with drawn bubbles, for comparison.
will try to locate the examples and show images when i get a minute.