Snow globes exercise a particular kind of fascination. However tastefully they are made, whatever lies hidden within them, and whichever season might happen to lie outside the window, almost everyone loves to give them a shake and watch the snow fall – and no snowstorm is more beautiful than those in the globes the Original Wiener Schneekugelmanufaktur have been making for more than 100 years.
Quite when the first snow globe was made is lost in the mists of time, but one of the oldest known examples was to be admired at the 1878 Paris Exposition. Erwin Perzy I reinvented it at the end of the 19th century and filed a patent for a “glass globe with snow effect”; the surgical instrument mechanic was actually trying to develop a particularly bright light source and had been experimenting with a “shoemaker’s bulb”, a glass bowl with a tube-like collar that was filled with water. When placed in front of a candle, it acted like a magnifying glass and the light was intensified. Perzy had then mixed various substances into the water to increase the refractive index, and the way the material sank to the base of the glass bowl reminded him of falling snow; and he suddenly had an idea… The first Perzy snow globe housed a model of the basilica at Mariazell and the snow was made of semolina.
The company now has a wide range of models to offer, with everything from classic souvenirs to humorous designs. They also manufacture custom orders for companies and special occasions as well as bespoke pieces for celebrities and private customers alike.

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The family firm is now being run by the fourth generation and some 300,000 snow globes are made by hand in the middle of Vienna every year, with about half being exported to Japan. Viennese snow globes are also much sought after in Korea, the USA and Switzerland.
The largest snow globe the company has ever made had a diameter of 35 cm, while the smallest was no more than 11 mm across. There is also a little museum in their facility in Vienna that relates the history of the snow globe with a collection of interesting stories and an exhibition of apparatus, tools and one-of-a-kind models. One thing they are not giving away any time soon, however, is why the snow in Viennese snow globes is so beautiful.