There is a theory that the traditional Christmas decoration came about because an Austrian medical equipment specialist was trying to make surgical lights brighter, but something went wrong. We have verified the authenticity of this legend.
According to publications on resources for tourists and websites with a selection of interesting facts, one of the main New Year's souvenirs appeared by coincidence. Allegedly, no one intended to invent a ball filled with water and white powder that imitates snow. In December 2020, this story was quite active discussed and on Reddit.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Austrian Erwin Perzi worked with equipment that was used to perform medical operations. Even then, surgeons used electric light bulbs, but the light emanating from them was not bright enough. Perzi thought about it on how to help doctors, and drew attention to the method used by Austrian shoemakers. They placed a glass ball filled with water in front of the candle and received a spot of light the size of their palm.
Perzi tried the shoemaker's technology, replacing the candle with a light bulb, but was not satisfied with the result. Then he thought that some kind of powder could be added to the water, the particles of which would additionally reflect light. As the inventor’s grandson says: “One day he found semolina and poured it into a glass ball. The grains became saturated with water and began to slowly settle, and it reminded him of snowfall.” Perzi founded company works in the suburbs of Vienna to this day and sells about 200,000 snow globes annually.
Although the Austrian apparently created the souvenir by accident, his snow globes were not the first in history. In 1878 at the World Exhibition in Paris was presented a very similar exhibit: “A hollow ball filled with water, and inside there is a figurine of a man holding an umbrella. This ball also contains a white powder that, when turned over, simulates a snow storm.” A similar exhibit, shown at an exhibition 11 years later, has survived to this day.
Thus, the legend about Perzi itself is true: he really accidentally created a snow globe and was the first to begin producing this souvenir in the form in which it is known now. At the same time, it is difficult to say that an Austrian invented the snow globe - very similar products appeared 20 years earlier. On the other hand, in the US, a manufacturing patent issued only in 1927 to Joseph Garage from Pittsburgh, thanks to whom snow globes became much cheaper to produce and more accessible to ordinary people.
Half-truth
- https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/snow-globe-invented-accidentally/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-25298507
- https://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/shopping/snow-globes
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