Rhinestones are diamond simulants or imitations made of rock crystal, glass, or even acrylic. As the name suggests, a rhinestone used to be rock gathered from along the River Rhine. Eighteenth-century Alsatian jeweler Georg Friedrich Strass was the first to coat glass with metallic powder in such a way as to simulate diamonds. We’ve come a long way since then, with some producers even able to reproduce the sparkling effects of a real diamond.
Rhinestones are discovered anywhere a diamond would be, from apparel to jewellery. They’re primarily used by those who can’t afford genuine diamonds, but musical celebrities have elevated the status of wearing them. Personalities as varied as Liberace and Elvis Presley have worn it so much that they are now widely associated with it, and even caricatured that way.
The diamond simulant, nonetheless, is no cheap thing, inexpensive only when compared to the real thing. The gemological characteristics desired are usually matched (though never all of them simultaneously in any one material), making the simulant a valuable object in its own right.
One of the largest producers of rhinestones in the world is the Austrian concern Swarovski, which has a custom of manufacturing fine crystal products such as miniatures and chandeliers. From 2004 through 2009, it was a Swarovski creation that served as the star atop New York City’s famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Preciosa is a Czech company that’s responsible for most of the other rhinestones in the world, with a method that uses only about thirty percent lead in order to minimize refraction.
Other unique coatings and coating processes are utilized to create crystal rhinestones that exhibit diamond-like traits for example rainbows. Like Swarovski, Preciosa almost makes sculptures, jewelry, and the like. Indeed, the former Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs host most of the fine rhinestone makers in the world.
