Rhinestone

The availability of such products increased greatly in the 18th century when the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass (1701–1773) developed imitation diamonds by coating the lower side of lead glass with metal powder.

As opposed to the classic rhinestones, which had a metal-powder coating on the bottom side only, several companies have opted to mass-produce iridescent lead glass by reducing the metal-coating thickness and applying it uniformly, not using metal powder with a binder but applying various forms of metal deposition (thin foil, vapor deposition, etc.).

Crystal rhinestones are produced mainly in Austria by Swarovski and in the Czech Republic by Preciosa and a few other glassworks in northern Bohemia.

[2] Guy de Maupassant's short story "La Parure" from 1884 centers around a seemingly valuable diamond necklace which turns out, to the protagonist's chagrin, to have been made of paste.

That song served as the basis for the 1984 movie Rhinestone starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton.

The flat bottom of the stone has a glue backing and, when heated, melts onto the surface of the clothing.