This dazzling text takes the reader on a journey through time, rolling back the years, revealing the elegant, streamlined, moderne art deco chrome wares received as gifts in decades past. Contained between these covers are no fewer than 600 photographs and illustrations displaying more than 700 examples of fine art deco wares with sparkling metal finishes, including table decorations, drinking service pieces, buffet service items, smoking articles, and lamps. These items were the products of large, well known firms such as Chase, Manning-Bowman, Kensington, and Revere.

Histories of the firms and the industrial designers who created these objects, along with patent and design information on many of the illustrated wares, are provided as well. Also included in this thorough text are all of the details necessary to identify art deco design, differentiate between-and care for-a variety of metal finishes, and to determine value. Values are included in the captions for the items shown. A bibliography and an appendix listing the Chase giftware items designed by Harry Laylon round out the presentation.[AuthorName]James R. Linz[/AuthorName][AuthorBio]Jim Linz has been a weekend collector of art deco for nearly 25 years. Over the years, he has amassed a collection now totaling nearly 1,000 items. Following his retirement from the United States General Accounting Office, Jim has turned his full attention to the pursuit of his hobby. This is the first of several books he plans on art deco.

A 1969 graduate of Atlanta’s Emory University, Jim spent more than 27 years auditing federal programs for the GAO before taking early retirement in 1997. As an Assistant Director in GAO’s Health and Human Services Division, he helped produce over 200 reports and testimonies on such diverse subjects as food, cosmetic, drug, and pesticide safety. Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the future of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, and health care reform. He was a frequent witness at Congressional hearings. In noting his retirement from public service in September 1997, the Assistant Comptroller General for Human Resources commented that Linz’s work had resulted in “billions of dollars in savings.”[/AuthorBio][NumIllustration]484 color & 117 b/w photos[/NumIllustration][CoAuthor][/CoAuthor][SubTitle][/SubTitle][ColorPattern]484 color & 117 b/w photos[/ColorPattern]