Whether it's snowing or not, winter is never far away with a snowglobe in hand — and it's a small Viennese firm that claims to have invented this trinket, supplying even Hollywood and the White House.

In 1900, Erwin Perzy, a local repairman for surgical instruments, decided to improve the lighting in operating rooms by using a glass ball filled with water and semolina, for added brightness.

The light was a non-starter, but the snowglobe was born — "by pure accident", notes Perzy's grandson Erwin III, with a grin.

And 110 years on,