I inherited vintage jewelry and need to know what this bead is. It is white with parallel lines that go from the top of bead to the bottom. It really looks like an onion skin. I don't really know any other way to describe it. Any ideas?? Thank you.

:) Looks like glass to me, hard to tell - pic is fuzzy. You can tell glass from stone a couple of ways, aside from uniformity of design; gently tap object to your (real) front upper teeth, stone is "heavier" feeling/sounding, and has a colder feel. Sounds crazy, but an old jeweller told me this trick about 40 years ago and it's almost guaranteed to work. If you're trying to tell age of a particular bead, try going online to some antique bead websites, it's pretty informative. Hope this helps.