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Rows of Viennese souvenir snow globes, the giant Ferris wheel and the city’s churches among them · 1 of 3

Only in Vienna

Original Vienna snow globe — St Stephen’s

Hand-assembled in a Hernals workshop that has made them since 1900, from turned wooden base to secret snow.

from €26.00VAT included · €0.00 booking fee

216 on the shelf · counted at the counter

Which one

Up to 9 in one order.

Your order

1 × €36.00

€0.00 booking fee · shipping or free collection chosen at checkout

  • Posted the next working day · Austria €4.90, free over €80 · rest of the EU €9.90, free over €120 · rest of world €24.90, free over €250
  • Free collection at our office counter during opening hours — ready the same evening if you order by 15:00
  • 14 days from delivery to change your mind on unopened goods; food and drink excepted by law

Invented here, 1900

A failed operating lamp, and then snow

Erwin Perzy I made surgical instruments in Hernals. Asked to squeeze more light out of the new electric bulb, he filled a glass globe with water and reflective particles; semolina drifted down instead of scattering the beam, and looked exactly like snowfall. He put a pewter model of the Mariazell basilica inside and sold the first globe to a friend who ran a souvenir stall.

The workshop is still in the same 17th-district house, still family-run, and still turns out around 200,000 globes a year by hand. The snow formula has never left the family. Every mass-produced globe you have ever shaken is a copy of this object.

Facts from the manufactory, the Vienna tourist board and Austrian Post.

The particulars

Globe
80 mm mouth-blown glass, distilled water, the family snow mix
Base
Turned and lacquered hardwood, felted underside
Weight
410 g packed
Made in
Vienna 17, Hernals
Care
Keep out of direct sun and never freeze it — the water expands

Getting it home

  • The 45 mm globe holds under 100 ml and goes in your cabin bag. The 80 mm and 120 mm hold more, so security will take them: check them in, or let us post them.

  • Never in the hold of an unheated cargo bay in deep winter without the padded box — we include it.

  • Posted globes travel double-boxed with a foam cradle; breakage in transit is replaced, not refunded.

Not sure? Ask at the counter or call +43 1 934 66 40 — we would rather you carried it than lost it at security.

This one at a glance

Price, stock, shipping, collection and the return window checked against our own terms on .
What
Original Vienna snow globe — St Stephen’s
Made by
Hand-assembled in a Hernals workshop that has made them since 1900, from turned wooden base to secret snow.
Made in
Vienna 17, Hernals
Material
80 mm mouth-blown glass, distilled water, the family snow mix
Weight
410 g packed
Price
From €26.00, per the choice above, VAT included, €0.00 booking fee — the maker’s own price, not a marked-up one.
Stock
216 on the shelf · counted at the counter — a number we counted on our own shelf, printed as a fact. Nothing here runs on a clock.
Delivery
Austria €4.90, free over €80 · rest of the EU €9.90, free over €120 · rest of world €24.90, free over €250 · alcohol within the EU only · free at our office counter, the same evening if you order by 15:00.
Returns
You have 14 days from the day the parcel is delivered to return unopened goods, food and drink excepted by law. If something arrives damaged we pay the return postage. A refund is started the same day and lands in three to five bank days, on the card that paid.

Not verified

The workshop facts on this page — founding years, production figures, recipes — are carried from our buying notes and were not re-read against the makers on the day the shop’s own terms were checked.

Questions guests ask

The six that apply to everything on the shelf, then the ones about this object.

  • What does shipping cost?

    Austria €4.90, free over €80 of shop goods. The rest of the European Union €9.90, free over €120. Rest of the world €24.90, free over €250. The same figures run the checkout, and our handling fee is €0 on all three.

  • Can I collect it at your counter instead?

    Yes, free, at our office counter — Monday to Friday 09:00–18:00, Saturday 09:00–19:00, Sunday 10:00–16:00. Order by 15:00 and it is waiting the same evening, which is the sensible route if you are at a concert that night.

  • Can I change my mind?

    You have 14 days from the day the parcel is delivered to return unopened goods, food and drink excepted by law. If something arrives damaged we pay the return postage. A refund is started the same day and lands in three to five bank days, on the card that paid.

  • Do you gift wrap?

    €4 a parcel: a grey board box, claret ribbon and a card written by hand at the counter with whatever you dictate. The packing slip goes out without prices, so nobody unwraps a number.

  • What happens with customs outside the EU?

    Goods leaving the EU are zero-rated, so the price you pay us carries no Austrian VAT — and the import VAT and any duty are then collected by the courier before delivery. We cannot pay it for you and we would rather say so on this page than let it arrive as a surprise.

  • Is the maker’s own price marked up?

    No. We buy at the workshop’s trade price and sell at the price the workshop itself charges, so the address on the box costs you nothing. Every product page names the workshop, and our handling fee is €0.

  • Is this the original manufactory?

    Yes — the Hernals workshop that invented the snow globe in 1900 and still makes every one by hand. We buy at trade price and sell at their shop price; no markup for the address on the box.

  • Can I have a custom motif?

    The manufactory does bespoke globes from around 100 pieces, which is a corporate order rather than a souvenir. Ask our groups desk if that is what you need.

More from the shelf

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