I like that Winnie! New to me, too. Looks like they were going for a "banded solid core!"
No clue about the age of the crazy beads. Am angling now for some more strange "confetti-marble-like" ones I'd love to put together with these. I have a feeling they all may be from the 1930s, but that's based on virtually nothing except style. And not very convincingly on that. I also have a hunch they may be Czech (or even Chinese) rather than Italian, but that ain't based on anything either. Whee!
Calling all Peltheads: Anybody have a notion of when Pelt might have first started making / experimenting with "cross-throughs" and/or fruit salads, or whatever they're properly called?