Next Tuesday, bidders for a bankrupt Bucks County maker of fine china will be looking over the Bristol company's books - and Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. each will receive one of the company's crystal bowls as one of their first gifts as the nation's new leaders.

It's that kind of day in this kind of economy.

For the last six inaugurations, Lenox Group Inc., founded 120 years ago, has produced commemorative gifts for incoming presidents.

"It's incredibly satisfying to work on a one-of-a-kind piece like this," said Tim Carder, Lenox's vice president of design. "It's a very elaborate piece. It's not the kind of thing you would find in the department store. It's a gallery type of piece."

The bowls will be given to the nation's new leaders at the luncheon immediately after the swearing-in ceremonies next Tuesday.

Presented by Congress, the bowls are considered gifts from the American people.

Etched on the bowls are important Washington buildings surrounded by cherry trees in bloom - Obama's features the White House and Biden's, the Capitol.

Depending on the angle, the buildings can be viewed straight on, or seen through the branches of the trees.

After working on this project for more than 100 hours with master glass-cutter Peter O'Rourke, Timothy Carder, Lenox's vice president of design, handed over the cut and etched crystal bowls to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies at an intimate ceremony held on Capitol Hill yesterday.

The bowls, which cost $2,500 each to make, are about nine inches across and seven inches high. They weigh about nine pounds and will be presented in cherry wood boxes handcrafted in New York.

While Lenox's main manufacturing plant is in Kinston, N.C., the bowls - imported from Europe - were designed in Bristol and cut and etched at O'Rourke's studio outside Pittsburgh.

Lenox's inauguration role comes as the company faces challenges in this economy.

Lenox's parent company, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, and its executives are now talking to potential bidders.

A final decision is expected by late February or early March, Louis Fantin, the company's general counsel, said.

"Our products are very popular," Fantin said, "but people have been holding back purchasing them."

The products have certainly been popular with presidents.

In 1918, the company said, President Woodrow Wilson commissioned a 1,700-piece set bearing the presidential seal in raised gold.

Over the years, Lenox has created new state services for five additional presidents - Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush.

Founded by Walter Scott Lenox in 1889, the company began in Trenton, then a hub for glass and porcelain manufacturing. These days, corporate and design functions take place in Bristol, where about 300 are employed.