No one is absolutely certain, but it is believed that the first snow globes were made in France in the late 1800s as a variation on the very popular glass paperweights.  Whenever their introduction, snow globes were an almost immediate hit with collectors covering a wide range of collector categories.

The snow globe collecting spectrum includes historic events and landmarks, celebrities, sports figures, souvenirs of tourist destinations, religious themes, military themes, advertising, Disney characters, and holiday themes.  One of the earliest souvenir snow globes was issued at the Paris Exposition in 1889 containing a model of the brand new Eiffel Tower, but none of today's collectors have ever actually seen one of those.

Snow globes, also known as snow shakers, snow domes, water domes, blizzard domes and water balls were enormously popular in Victorian England, and by the early 1920s, had made their way to the United States.  A 1927 patent for an underwater assembly technique issued to Joseph Garcia of Modern Novelty of Pittsburgh allowed the globes to be mass produced, and thus more affordable.

The domes are glass or plastic, and bases have been made of  porcelain, wood, marble, plastic and metal.  Even the water and snow have been through numerous evolutions.  In the earliest snow globes, the snow was made of tiny slivers or bone or porcelain. Over the years, manufacturers have also tried ground rice grains, gold foil, meerscham and a camphor/wax compound. Today, the snowflakes are typically tiny pieces of plastic.  The liquid inside the globes has had additives such as oil (to help the snow fall more slowly) and glycol (antifreeze which prevents the water from freezing during winter shipments).

 Holiday themed snow globes are a popular segment of the collecting category, especially since a 1942 issue of Good Houskeeping Magazine that pictured a little girl with a snow globe containing Santa Claus on its cover.  Depending on age, subject, rarity and condition, Christmas snow globes can be worth anything from a few dollars to $1,000 or more.