Mysterious beads

'We found these extraordinary beads in Amsterdam’s flea market, and I can’t, by de life of me, determine what they are made from. They are not glass and not plastic, they look very much like bamboo coral, but again, they feel different, some how. They sure are gorgeous, thought.'
This is part of the description of our necklace 'Mysterious beads'.



Funny thing is, when it ended up on the frontpage yesterday we got several convo's about what they might be...
*the mysterious beads are seeds , in this case Paxiubao seeds dyed red, they came from the amazon.
*They look a lot like chestnut beads :o) but whatever they are they are very pretty!!
*I wondered if these mystererious beads were 'tagua' beads, or 'vegetable ivory'? The thing about tagua (if that's what they are) is that they can be dyed really nicely, varved, and have a nice shiny surface like your beads here...
.... still a mystery....


So, what do you think they are? We would love to hear more interesting suggestions....