I have to share with you this cute story.

A good friend of mine has a 5 year old daughter who loves princesses and faeries and all things pink and sparkley(sp?). Oh, sorry, she IS a princess. If she was here, she would correct me on that. So, as she sat on my lap, I commented on her outfit and how sparkley it was with all the rhinestones. She said, "Rhinestones? That's what they're called? Why are they called rhinestones? I think they should be called sparklestones because they're so sparkley!" I told her that I thought she was right.

Later, that got me curious. Why are they called rhinestones? My guess was that it had something to do with the Rhine River, since that is the area where the Swarovski crystals I use come from. Well, lo and behold! I was right! Here are some sites that I found quite interesting:

eBay Guides - History of Rhinestones
reviews.ebay.com/History-o...0000012040

Answers.com - Definition
www.answers.com/topic/rhinestone

The short history is, a man named Stras started using the glass found in the Rhine River by coating one side with lead to create more sparkle and called them the poor man's diamond, even though they were expensive because each were hand made. Then Swarovski came into the picture by inventing a glass cutter which gave even more brilliance to the stones and sped up production and lowered the cost.

I still agree, they should be called sparklestones.

*;}