TTO 0083 Blue Rhinestone On Sunburst Gold-tone Wire Floral Brooch with layered sunburst base. Features blue, green and aurora borealis rhinestones set in claw mounts. This heavily stylised floral theme has all the hallmarks of a 1950s piece. A fabulous retro look for all you Mad Men Women out there. The brooch measures 2" in diameter. Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine. The availability was greatly increased when around 1775 the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate diamonds by coating the lower side of glass with metal powder. Hence, rhinestones are called Strass in many European languages.