What's the difference? How can you tell whether you are looking at a Rhinestone, a Swarovski Crystal Rhinestone, or an acrylic/plastic Rhinestone?

First, a tiny bit of history. The name Rhinestone orginiated from pieces of crystal or glass found in Austria's Rhine River. Rhinestones were originally cut and finished by hand. In the 1800s, Daniel Swarovski created a glass-cutting machine that cut faceted glass, which produced a crystal far superior to hand-cut crystal.

All Rhinestones are carefully cut glass - or crystal - and have a foil backing to enhance reflectiveness and brilliance. It's similar to the backing on your glass mirrors. But - not all Rhinestones are Swarovski, which may be confusing. Rhinestones other than Swarovski are usually Korean, Czech, Acrylic or Plastic.

Only Rhinestones made by the Swarovski company can be labeled Swarovski. They are made of lead crystal with eight or fourteen facets, and are considered to be the very finest Rhinestones.

Korean Rhinestones are single-cut, and they are cast, not molded. They are often used in low-end jewelry. They resemble flat colored glass, and the colors are limited with none of the depth or complexity of quality Rhinestones.

Czech Rhinestones are machine cut and very fine lead crystal with eight facets, and are fairly flat. They're not quite as bright as Swarovski Rhinestones and don't come in as many colors.

Acrylic or Plastic Rhinestones are not Rhinestones at all, but rather pieces of plastic shaped to resemble Rhinestones. They don't sparkle, since they don't transmit light as do lead crystal and glass. They are used in very low-end jewelry and children's wear.

Vintage Rhinestones primarily came from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany and Japan.

Rhinestones come in a huge variety of colors - clear crystal - the traditional diamond look-alike, and clear transparent colors, often named after the gem that they imitate, such as Emerald, Sapphire and Amethyst.

There are also Aurora Borealis Rhinestones, which are produced by adding a minute coating of metal to give the stone a rainbow sparkle.

Finally, there are two main shapes of Rhinestones that you're likely to see in jewelry - faceted and cabochon. Faceted stones are cut or molded to have multiple flat surfaces that reflect light - think of what a diamond ring looks like. Cabochons are usually flat-backed and have a round or oval domed shape with no facets.