If anyone lives in or visits the NY/ NJ/ CT Metro Area and wants to see some of the western worlds most amazing silversmithig and chasing, visit the Met in NYC.
In the American wing of the met, upstairs, (you can walk up an actual sullivan staircase, for all you architecture buffs out there) there are a few large cases of silver Holloware. This is not just average shiny silver.

In those cases, are some of the most important pieces of presentaion silver ever made in the western world. In particular is a roughly 3'high piece called the Bryant Vase By Tiffany and Co. There is chasing on that thing that boggles the mind as to how it could be possible. Records show that it took dozens of silversmiths hundreds of hours to create.
Most of the design, modeling and chasing work was executed by a frenchman named, EJ Soligny who designed and chased for the NY firm. He is mentioned in conjunction with this piece in the book Magnificent Tiffany Silver.

During my time at Tiffany and Co, I frequented the Archives and was able to put on the white gloves and carefully flip thorough this guys original sketch books! Incredible stuff, just like the sketches of Michaelangelo. He also was responsible for the design and execution of the decoration on many of the NY Yacht Club trophies during his time at Tiffany&co in the mid 1800's. A good bit of his work can be seen in the Magnificent Tiffany Silver book.

This caliper of chasing has gone virtually unparalelled. It seems that most of the metalsmithing community is so focused on contemporary work I want to share my insight into the older stuff.
The Met also had a dynamite arms and armour section that features a good bit of japanese metalwork on the samurai sword ornaments etc.
It's certainly worth a weekend trip to have a look. Very inspiring indeed!
Liza