Schneekugel

This past week I went to the orignal factory where the snowglobe was invented. It is still in use today, and run by the grandson of the inventor. The factory was really neat to see, especially since it is one of the few working factories left in the city limits of Vienna today. We were told the history of the "schneekugel" and then given a tour of the factory to see snow globes actually being made. The man who gave us this tour was the grandson of Erwin Percy, Erwin Percy III. He told us how in 1900, his grandfather produced the first snowglobe here in Vienna, and invented it by accident. He was trying to find ways to improve the electric lightbulb, and eventually stumbled upon the snow globe.
After WWII, a business executive from America saw the snowgloves, and thought this would be perfect for the America market, so they started exporting snowglobes to America, and they quickly became popular.

The Wiener Schneekugel company still exports some snowgloves to America, but not very many anymore since Chinese companies now produced many more and for a cheaper price, but the Percy's still make gloves and do export them throughout the world. For special clients, they will make custom snowglobes, and they have done this for 3 US Presidents. We saw copies of the globes that had been made for some of our presidents. The first US President to recieve a globe was President Reagan, and his globe was of one of his ranches. The next was President Clinton, and his was made with pieces of the confetti that was thrown at his inauguration...and the thrid President, was President Obama. Mr. Percy said they were asked to make one for the Obama family by a Vienesse woman who was attending a white house party and wanted to give one to the youngest Obama daughter because she had begun collecting snowglobes. The globe is a Christmas one with the entire first family in it. The globe had been finished and ready to send off when Mr. Percy was called by the woman who had ordered it; the Obamas had gotten a dog, and she told him he had to open the globe and put the first dog in it to. He did and that was the globe that the Obamas recieved.

It was really neat to see the factory, and learn about the history of the snowglobe. In Vienna they say, even though nowadays other countries and companies produce bigger and more ornate snowglobes, the snowglobes in Vienna (the originals) snow the longest.