Rhinestone Crystal Jewelry
Harkening back to an earlier part of the thread; So, you're telling me that,
if I went to Germany with my antique, faceted ROCK CRYSTAL and
marcasite(pyrite) choker; they'd say it was RHINESTONE?
Actually it's Rhinekiesel. In the early decades of the 20th century a
few tourist shops along the Rhine sold jewelry with these stones in
them. They were made from glass, were clear and had red, green, and
blue blotches inside. the were cut like diamonds after the colored
patches were fused into the clear glass during the molding process.
Some time later it is believed that an American business man started
calling them Rhinestones.