Please read the essay posted here related to "Pyu" beads from Burma. This demonstrates that the technology for making chemically-decorated beads was very likely transferred from India to Burma, some 2000 (+) years ago. (Now, I would follow protocol and refer to these as Tircul beads.)

You have a bead that is brighter red, and has dark gray lines. This is what Beck called a "Type III" carnelian bead. ("Black on red."). If this is the bead you think might be coral, it is not coral. The chemical decoration process would not be successful on organic materials; nor on practically any minerals apart from agate.

All of your beads were probably made in India. However, Burma cannot be entirely ruled-out.

JDA.

Can you tell me an approx age??

Thanks again from Walter

I wonder how it is that in some places the decorative stripes look as if they were applied OVER the (concoidal) broken areas.

The process of applying an alkaline liquid, that is fired to become permanent, is not just a superficial process. The liquid percolates into the stone (sometime unpredictably). It also changes the crystallography of the stone, and can result in some weakness. So, when areas chip away, the design is still there. And, in some instances, the entire lines fall way, leaving a recessed pattern. (This is why the process was mistaken for "etching").

Jamey

Here you will notice on 2 beads where the white lines have fallen away or worn away over the centuries leaving the grooves where the designs used to be. Considering the designs have fallen or worn off please what approximate age to the worn out beads??

Enjoy the pictures