Many questions that you can think of have been asked—often quite a few times. The Search engine works pretty well, though you may have to try different key words.

In a nutshell:

The name "Peking glass" was determined to be passé about twenty-five years ago, as lobbied by Dr. Robert K. Liu, in an article (and lectures) he promoted in Ornament. The generic name now is merely "Chinese glass beads."

There are a number of beads that Dogon people hold in high esteem. Among them, those wrongly called "Dutch Dogon beads" are actually German glass beads from the late 19th and early 20th Cs. They are furnace-wound, usually oblate or annular (often with the ends cut flat), and are most typically dark translucent cobalt blue or colorless (among other more infrequent colors). In order to be "Dutch," these beads would have to be from as early as the 18th C.—which they are not. So their false identification, that suggests the 17th C. is mistaken, but tends to generate greater interest and higher prices. The annular beads are now successfully copied and also passed off as "old" beads for greater than their true value—and many of the beads feature "rare colors"—inciting even higher prices. I believe these are from modern India.

The name "padre" bead was appropriated by collectors and African bead sellers, wrongly, pasted onto just ANY opaque turquoise-blue glass beads—including those that are wound, and molded, and that may be Czech, Chinese, or Venetian. The name should be reserved for a very particular group of historically significant beads, popular in late Colonial times, that were given out by Franciscans to Native Americans, as perks for good work and perhaps for conversion (the story says). There are no (zero) "padre beads" from Africa. They only come from the American Southwest. And not all turquoise-blue glass beads from the American SW are "padre beads" either. There are a few beads in the collections of The Bead Museum that I suspect MIGHT be actual padre beads. However, I also suspect they are not Chinese, but European (because they do not have a white or off-white mandrel release compound in their perforations). Needless to say, the red and other non-turquoise-colored versions of these beads are NOT "red padre beads" (or whatever color)—which as become rather ridiculous and nonsensical.

Related to the issue of "padre beads,"is the issue of the origins of "early blue beads"—such as those supposedly distributed by the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and are popular in the Northwest US. Although these are likewise often said to be "Chinese" (for the same reasons as above), I suspect a European origin is much more likely. These should not be confused with "early blue beads" from the Northeast (Canada and the US), that are somewhat similar-looking. These are Venetian a-speo beads of opaque turquoise-blue glass (that are from the 17th C., and that I believe were made to copy Middle Eastern beads, that we can see from the digs in Mali, were popular at one time in Africa). Being drawn beads, they are different from wound beads—though this is not always immediately apparent.

Padre beads, and the beads routinely identified as "padre beads" are very similar-looking to various Chinese beads—of which I have hundreds, in various hues, sizes, shapes, and diaphaneities. That is exactly why there is some confusion and/or disagreement about the origin of padre beads. Likewise for "NW blue beads."

However, the typical Dogon beads are distinctively different. They are larger, have cut ends, or are annular, and are not typically turquoise-blue. I'm not sure how they got mixed-into the problem here.

When I return home, I can try to post some images to show these various beads.

I hope this helps.

Jamey