The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: January twenty-fifth, giving snowdomes a fair shake.

Call them snowdomes, shakies or blizzards in a bottle, those hollow glass or plastic, liquid-filled spheres containing figurines and fake snow are the ultimate in travel kitsch. Solid glass paperweights have been around for many years, but filling hollow balls with fluid started with the French in 1889. An enterprising craftsman encased tiny ceramic models of the then brand new Eiffel tower in palm-sized glass globes and magnified them with water and fake snow. Peddled as souvenirs of the Paris Exposition, they sold like hot crepes.

Artistic waterglobes began spouting everywhere, with delicate glass globes being blown by cottage craftspeople throughout Europe. It was an American, Joseph Garaja who in 1927 filed several patents for mass production of water globes. His process, in which globes were assembled entirely underwater, revolutionized the snowdome industry. For decades, Garaja's company, Modern Novelty of Pittsburgh, supplied globes and domes of every shape and size around the world. By the 1950's, the world itself was awash in snowdomes.

From inexpensive plastic mementos of people, places and events to the finest glass heirlooms, there's no realistic estimate of how many different snowdomes have been filled over the years, but it certainly numbers in the millions.

That variety has spawned an extensive and active market for serious, competitive collectors, complete with catalogues, Internet auction sites and a monthly newsletter.

FMI For more information, check out "Snowdomes" by Nancy McMichael (Abbyville press 1990) is the definitive history. Nancy also publishes a newsletter SnowBiz. Her address is Box 53262 Washington, DC 20009. Snow Dome websites include
www.muntner.com/snowdome.htm
http:\hometown.aol.com/c1urchn/web/snowdome.htm
www.snowdome.demon.nl/wanted.htm

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