Rhinestones always make me think of movies from the fifties and sixties, with chic women attending swanky cocktail parties sporting rhinestone earrings, necklaces, tiaras and even rhinestone studded glasses.

Glittery rhinestones have long been used to simulate diamonds in jewelry. They take their name from the river Rhine, where the shiny rock crystals were collected from the river. It wasn’t until the late 1700s, however, that they started appearing in jewelry, when a jeweler found that by applying a metal backing to the river crystals, they could be made to look much like diamonds. Even so, the amount of labor that went into cutting the rhinestones made them expensive. It was in the 1890s that Daniel Swarovski created a gem cutting machine that made the production of rhinestones inexpensive and opened the door to their widespread use in costume jewelry. In 1955 the “Aurora Borealis” coating, which gives rhinestones an iridescent quality, was developed for use on rhinestones. In addition to jewelry, rhinestones are often used in performers’ costumes, where they glitter in the stage lights and draw attention to the performer.

Sparkling rhinestone jewelry is fun for those who like to wear their collections. Take care when storing rhinestone jewelry because the stones can be easily scratched. Rhinestone jewelry can be cleaned by dabbing it with alcohol. Take care not to get the jewelry wet, since that can tarnish the foil backing on the stones and can loosen the glue that holds them in their settings.

To learn more about rhinestones, please visit http://www.rhinestonz.co.nz/faq.htm

================

Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect - Join our Collectors’ Community!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 10:27 am and is filed under collecting fyi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.