The origins of the snow globe is unknown, however there are records of these items dating back to the mid to late 1800’s in France. It is assumed that snow globes were initially created to replace the glass paperweight. Early snow globes showed miniature Christmas or religious scenes. One of the first “travel” souvenir scenes was that of the Eiffel Tower to commemorate the International Exposition in Paris and the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution in 1889. Snow Globes became a popular collectable during the Victorian era in England.
While a few companies were known to sell the snow globe throughout Europe, a man named Erwin Perzy of Vienna in the early 1900’s is better known as the father of the typical snow globe. He was experimenting with creating a water lens to focus the light of the newly created (but dim) electric light bulb. His idea was to try to create something that could be used to light surgical procedures. He took an overturn empty light bulb and filled it with water. He then experimented with various white powder substances to see if they could assist in reflecting the light, but instead found that it floated slowly, which reminded him of snowfall.
The first traditional snow globe Erwin made was of the Basilica of Mariazell located in Vienna which is an important pilgrimage destination in Austria. He then started a business to create and sell his snow globes, which continues today being run by Erwin’s grandson. (Their shop even has a Snow Globe Museum that you can visit.)
In the 1920’s snow globes came to America and also became a hot collectible for their hand painted and beautiful designs. However, in the 1940’s the typical scenes of winter, Christmas, and religious icons changed to those of advertising amusement parks, hotels, and other travel destinations. And in the 1950’s plastic globes were created. This allowed for mass production of cheaper made snow globes to flood the market and snow globes were now seen as tacky souvenirs.
In the 1970’s there was a resurgence of higher quality snow globes that brought them back into fad as a collectible. Also around this time new features could be added such as lighting effects and sound. Today you can still find cheap snow globe souvenirs at nearly every travel destination as well as find higher end snow globes in many stores with miniatures of different scenes, objects, animals, or even big brand icons like Disney characters.
Read more about Snow Globes at:
- Wikipedia: Snow Globe
- BBC: The family company that invented the snow globe
- NY Times: The Self-Contained Snowstorm
- LA Times: Into the wintry world of the snow globe
Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.
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