Four major companies in America continued to produce snow globes of varying quality and subject including souvenirs, but also holiday globes and novelty gifts. It was a similar landscape in Europe, with a few manufacturers dominating the snow globe scene. By the 1980s, snow globes were still a staple of the gift industry, but they’d also become the epitome of kitsch—probably because everyone and everything from Disney’s Bambi to the Lone Ranger to Niagara Falls and the White House could be put under glass and forced to endure frequent and bewildering snowstorms. But what does the market look like today? Oddly enough, snow globes remain big business. There is a sizable collector’s market for both antique and novelty domes. And Erwin Perzy III’s company is still healthy. The Vienna shop produces upwards of 200,000 snow globes a year, and that’s just a small part of the market. It’s perhaps a mark of how familiar a form a snow globe is, and what innocent—almost saccharine—kitsch they’re meant to be that they can be so gleefully perverted, as this collection of weird, macabre, and wonderful snow globes demonstrates.
Tired of all the happy ballerinas and princesses in snow globes? Then give them the finger with this terrible, but hilariously wrong, prank snow globe. It’s something we’ve all asked at one time or another, just never in snow globe form. I’m not sure if this is meant as a gift or as bathroom décor, but either way, it’s sure to be a conversation starter. Additional details at custom snowglobes.
Modern Globes: The snowglobe fell out of favor in the 1970’s when it epitomized kitsch –but have evolved into something more sophisticated, intricate and valued among designers and collectors. Novelty gift manufacturers have upgraded the designs and components making them unique gift items often including beautifully modelled landscapes. Some incorporate lights, music and motors eliminating the need for shaking. Many high-end department stores introduce a custom design every year to commemorate the Christmas season.
American G.I.s stationed in West Germany after the World War II helped turn nutcrackers into Christmas decorations. Arlene Wagner, a curator at Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in Washington, told Slate that soldiers remaining in Germany after the war sent back the dolls to America as Christmas gifts. Later on, American soldiers would help keep the German nutcracker business afloat as East German manufacturers would export their nutcrackers to West Germany knowing that American soldiers would scoop them up. Source: https://www.qstomize.com/collections/custom-snow-globe.