Thanks for your input.
I travelled to Ethiopia before, but was not interested in beads at the time. I do remember a local women who gave me a strand of beads as a gift. I now know they were whitehearts, but unfortunately they have become lost in one of my many times of moving house.

I am not so much looking to buy beads, but more looking for the stories. The stories of making beads, trading beads, craftsmen and factories.....

Had not thought about Yemen, but obviously it would be a great place to talk to silversmiths and look at how they work and value beads.

It is still difficult to see museum collections that are not on display. Some of the museums I have spoken to require you to be a researcher at a university to gain access to the archives. Still hoping to get to see the Tropenmuseum collection of Sick & Co sample cards and the Redlhammer collection in a museum in Vienna.