Click picture to see entire image:

Cost per bead:

.9 cent (i.e., slightly less than one penny each)

Bead material:

Glass

Country of origin:

Czech Republic

Size/shape:

4mm (long) x 2mm (wide) wiener-shaped beads with the hole running through the width – imagine an actual wiener with a toothpick in it.  Unlike a wiener, however, the beads are thinner at the center.

Colors/description:

Clear glass beads with glass coatings that appear to be these colors:  champagne luster, pink luster, blue luster, green luster and purple luster.  The pink and purple beads appear to have some gold or bronze in the coating.

Hole size:

1mm (estimated).

Defects:

The beads appear to be in good shape, although an occasional bead may be malformed.

How photographed:

At the window in natural daylight.

Comments:

My supplier claims that these are very popular beads, so I got them in a bunch of colors.  They are as small as seed beads.  I think there are supposed to be 300 beads on each strand.  I counted a strand and came up with a bit more than 290.  A customer of mine says she can buy these for $1.50 per strand on another site.  I can't sell them that cheaply, although if you buy $100 worth of beads, you'll get 10% off plus free shipping, which brings the price down to about $2.10.  If you can find that other site, more power to you.

These beads are called, alternately, farfalle or butterfly or bowtie beads, although really they look like small hot dogs.  I guess that "hot dog" and "wiener" are not very appealing terms.