Machine cut – this is the finest cut. All of the facets are nice and sharp like what you would see on a gemstone. Almost all of the Swarovski round stones are machine cut. Most of the current shape stones are not. The price tripled on machine cut Swarovski about 7 or 8 years ago. Most Swarovski fancy shapes you see are table cut/table polished.



Table cut/table polished - Sometimes you will see this as TTC or TTP (tin table cut or polished) or you’ll just see it as TC. Sometimes it isn’t noted in the description (heck, I’ve been trying to get all of my own listings updated!) but there is usually a /2 after the article number. So, a navette is article #4200. If it is machine cut it should be listed as just a 4200. If it is table cut it should be listed as 4200/2. Table cut stones have softer facets. They aren’t the crisp clean facets that you see on a machine cut stone. These are significantly cheaper.



Fire Polished – You may see this one marked as a Demi-Fin also. This one has very soft facets. You’ll really see this a lot in the old pot metal pieces. It is the cheapest one of all but shouldn’t be mixed in with machine cut or even table cut stones. They do not have the sparkle that either of the others have. But that works in reverse too. If you need a fire polished stone, don’t put in a machine cut one either.



Preciosa is just the name that is given to the leaded crystal stones that come from Czechoslovakia. Swarovski is Austrian and Preciosa is Czech.

Rhinestone Charts HERE

Additional information about Swarovski rhinestones at SWAROVSKI RHINESTONE ALBUM