rhinestone

A rhinestone, paste or diamante is a diamond simulant originally made from rock crystal but since the 19th century from crystal glass or polymers such as acrylic. Origins Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine, hence the name, although some were also found in areas like the Alps (the source of the Rhine). Today the name "rhinestone" applies only to varieties of lead glass known as crystal glass. The availability of such products increased greatly in the 18th century when the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass (1701-1773) developed imitation diamonds by coating the lower side of lead glass with metal powder. Many European languages use the word strass (or equivalent) to refer to rhinestones. As opposed to the classic rhinestones, which had a metal-powder coating on the bottom side only, several companies have opted to mass-produce iridescent lead glass by reducing the metal-coating thickness and applying it uniformly, not using metal powder with a binder but applying various forms of metal deposition (thin foil, vapor deposition, etc.). Such developments include Favrile glass by Tiffany in 1894, Carnival glass under the name "Iridrill" by Fenton in 1908, "Aurora Borealis" glass by Swarovski in 1956 and PVD-coated dichroic glass in the late 20th century, amongst many other decorative lead glasses coated with a thin metal layer and sold under various commercial names such as "rainbow glass", "aurora glass" and such. Rhinestones can be used as imitations of diamonds, and some manufacturers even manage to partially reproduce the glistening effect which real diamonds have in the sun.