Currently serving as a finial for a brass canister.

The base of the canister is stamped "CMINA" - occasionally these early post-1890 marks feature a backards N, but this is the first one I've encountered with an M instead of an H.

It's my understanding that items intended for export to the U.S. had to be marked with country of origin following the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890.

Seeing as how the Qing Dynasty officially ended in 1911, this could be an interesting older bead. Or, it could have been a post-1911 production made to imitate a hat button, just for purposes of quaintness? The workmanship on the brass isn't all that great.