Shop original Vienna snow globes by Perzy — the Austrian family who invented the snow globe in 1900 and still make each one by hand.
Original Vienna Snow Globes by Perzy
Vienna snow globes are the original article. Erwin Perzy invented the snow globe in Vienna in 1900, and his family has been making them in the same workshop ever since — real blown glass, solid wooden bases, and a snow formula the family has never disclosed, which is why the snow drifts slowly the way it does instead of dropping like the plastic imitations.
What sets these Austrian snow globes apart is visible the moment you turn one over. The crystal-clear blown glass, the scenes assembled by hand, and the snow that takes its time settling all speak to a level of craft the plastic imitations never reach. Each one carries more than a century of a single family's work behind it.
Made in neighboring Austria and steeped in the same Alpine Christmas traditions as Germany, a Perzy snow globe makes a memorable addition to any collection of traditional German and Austrian Christmas gifts — the kind of piece someone feels the difference in the moment they pick it up.
If you'd like the full story — including how Perzy stumbled onto the invention while trying to make a new electric lightbulb bright enough for a surgeon's operating room — our guide to the original Perzy snow globe tells it properly.