The Bernard & Sylvia Ostry Collection has helped to establish the Royal Ontario Museum Toronto as the most significant repository of early 20th century decorative arts in Canada and one of the premier institutions in this area of collecting in North America. Curators from other museums have been especially impressed by the range of 20th century silver in the Ostry collection and by the significant number of examples of wrought iron, an area that is often overlooked by collectors and museums. The Ostry collection represents three of the decorative arts movements that spanned the closing years of the 19th century through to the end of the 1930s; Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, with the emphasis on Deco. Furniture, art glass, ceramics, silverware, light fixtures, and sculpture are represented in the collection. This work selects some of the most important items from the collection, pieces that represent the highest level of achievement in their field; pieces that can truly be called Ahigh style. Artists represented include Louis Challon, Auguste Daum, Taxile Doat, Christopher Dresser, Camille Fauré, Paul Frankl Émile Gallé, William Guérin, Maurice Guiraud-Rivière, Josef Hoffmann, Georg Jensen, Alexandre Kéléty, Archibald Knox, Jacob and Joseph Kohn, René Lalique, Jules-Émile LeLeu, Louis Majorelle, Clément Massier, Paul Milet, Walter von Nessen, Karel Palda, Carl Poul Petersen, Albert Porteneuve, Jean Puiforcat, and Jacques Émile Ruhlmann. Places of manufacture include England, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Canada, and the United States.