Ideal dome exhibition
Snow globes come in a host of shapes, sizes and designs, and their history is more contentious than you might think to the annoyance of his family and For the first 40 years, the interior in a flashback to happier days, she diorama was always a church but shakes a snow globe containing a Erwin Perzy II extended the range figure of a girl on a sledge. to include Father Christmas, A year later, they more than snowmen figurines and tiny doubled again when the Christmas trees. There are now monumental opening scene from more than 350 different designs. Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” “The Original Vienna Snowglobe featured a snow globe is famous for the longest lasting containing a tiny log snow, the clearest glass globes, the cabin. widest range of standard and When U.S. custom styles, and my personal newspaper baron quality assurance,” Erwin Perzy III, Charles Kane dies grandson of the inventor told me. with the word Around 200,000 are made “Rosebud” on his annually, ranging in size from lips, the globe he’s 35mm to 120mm (1.5 inch to 4.5 holding drops from his inches) in diameter, sold from the hand and shatters, shop, which doubles as a museum causing reporters to where a guided tour takes visitors delve into what it meant. around Perzy’s first workshop. The globe was made by Perzy’s Mass production of snow globes company. was soon well underway in the U.S. Original Vienna Snowglobes are Joseph Garaja, a Pittsburgh painted and assembled by hand maker, was granted a patent in using quality Austrian glass not 1929, followed in 1944 by another to plastic, filled with clear alpine water William M. Snyder of the Atlas and exclusive “snow”, which may or Crystal Works, who was based first may not be ground rice – it’s a family in New Jersey and later in secret – each assembled and sealed Covington, Tennessee. individually. The former was responsible for
The Original Vienna Snowglobe company made globes for Presidents Reagan and Obama; Old and new Perzy globes in the company’s museum in Vienna persuading the company Novelty Pool Ornaments to produce a version showing a fish swimming among sea grass, while the latter emerged as one of the major manufacturers having perfected the technique of mounting the glass dome on to a ceramic base underwater so that the dome was filled entirely. Prices started at $1 a time and examples are recognisable because the company’s name is printed underneath. Add two noughts for antique examples today. Their products are poor relations in comparison, but they are collected widely. The period coincided with the boom in advertising and tourism after two world wars, both of which boosted production further.
Globes with advertising slogans and logos sell for a premium.
The advent of plastic and injection moulding in the 1950s meant costs were reduced and production increased, but at great cost to quality.
Collecting snow globes took off in the 1980s when kitsch was a craze, fuelled by such luminaries as Andy Warhol.
Those with glass globes and ceramic bases are worth more than all-plastic examples. Globes commemorating specific events are prized, particularly rarities from world fairs. Avoid globes with the all-too-familiar Christmas themes, especially Santa, and any in which the fluid level is anything less than full. Plastic discolours over time and a treasured globe should be kept out of sunlight.
Avoid also “snow” that has failed the test of time. Cheaper examples have no snow at all, while others show signs of “snow sickness” in which the flakes have become congealed and lie forlornly around the inside of the base in a lump.
The joy of a snow globe is simple: creating a magical winter wonderland in the palm of your hand …without worrying about how to get to work.