Rhinestones are A Girl's Best Friend

There is nothing more fun and exciting than carrying a vintage rhinestone purse to that special event or business dinner. When getting recognized is essential to achieving success, your rhinestone handbag will certainly help turn all eyes and raise a few brows.  Your ritzy and illuminating rhinestone bag is certain to guarantee that you will light up the evening. 

Rhinestones have been rising to the occasion for a vast number of decades but by 1918, Czechoslovakian glass made it's appearance in the dazzling form of rhinestones.  Brilliant glass stones were ground, polished and often backed with foil, adding even more brilliance.

Austria was also in the forefront of the rhinestone industry.  During the late 1800's, Daniel Swarovski created glass cutting and plating machines that produced the most highly esteemed rhinestones in production.  Swarovski rhinestones are renowned as the finest quality in the trade, primarily because of their high lead content.

Rhinestones have been cherished from the Victorian period, through the Edwardian and Art Deco eras.  However, it was the Great Depression, the 1920's through the 1940's, when women craved elegance, a sense of femininity, during a time of turmoil.  Rhinestone purses became exceedingly more popular, offering sophistication to a generation of women living in disorder and chaos.

The gentler times of the 1950's promoted a sense that "girls just wanted to have fun" and the love for rhinestone purses exploded into it's glory days.

The hippie trends of the 1960's put rhinestones aside but the Disco Dames of the 1970's were quick to bring them back in full force and rhinestones have continued to thrive in popularity ever since.   Today, vintage rhinestones have a strong following of collector's interested in purchasing all types of quality pieces.