It would help if you would kindly provide the length and width of the bead, the size of the hole, where you found the bead, and anything else you can tell us.
Welcome to the forum!
Your bead may be an old powder glass bead from Ghana. But I am not sure. Other opinions needed!
Please look at the link to the Picard site (www.picardbeads.com), which has some pictures of beads like yours.
The Picard site also has many other exhibits of different trade beads.
I received some more information from Jamey Allen, a bead expert who says (with some editing by myself):
To accurately identify glass beads, the first step is to determine method of manufacture. The bead in question is drawn, and not composed from manipulated powder glass. It is a drawn striped and twisted bead.
My best guess is that the bead is a transplanted jatim. Nowadays, it is not so unusual to find Javanese (jatim) beads in West Africa--where they are passed-off as "African" beads. (This has happened since the 1990s, but is more frequent in recent years.). It also might be a Middle Eastern bead, but also transplanted to W. Africa (recently)--as opposed to beads that may have been taken to W. Africa, say, 1000 years ago.
