All it takes is a shake of the wrist to make the flakes  fall on Santa’s sleigh, Elvis’s hips, or the Statue of Liberty’s torch—creating a miniature world in each snow globe. From the ornate to the political, from children’s characters to American cities and personalities, these colorful images will propel collectors back to their curio cabinets to watch a dazzling display and set the rest of us out on a lovely nostalgic trip. Each picture comes with a description that gives the history of the piece—going back to the time when snow globes weren’t just tourist souvenirs but depictions of the most romantic sites on earth. Find out where they were first created, which companies specialized in making them, and why they’re so irresistible.