Passing Down Passion: The Estate of Joe and Betsy Byerly

A little girl growing up in an antique shop, wandering through parts of a royal pleasure barge, a painted gypsy wagon, and a carousel horse, sounds like the premise for a children’s story. But for Katherine Laramore, it was simply her childhood. Her parents, Joe and Betsy Byerly, who owned and operated Byerly Antiques in Greensboro, North Carolina, made sure to instill within their children all of the passion and appreciation for their work that they could. According to Katherine, they succeeded in spades. Recounting over the phone, she remarked that some pieces felt like family, having been so beloved and omnipresent. Specifically, she recalls a Shenandoah Valley pewter cabinet that her parents purchased when she was five. She remembers them debating whether to buy the piece or take a family vacation that year. Once it had arrived and was placed in the house, she sat on the couch across the room from it and just stared, thinking to herself “this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Another piece close to Katherine’s heart is a Black Forest inkwell that she picked out as payment for helping her parents unpack shipments of antiques from Europe (that came to the store packed in wooden tea crates), proof that for the Byerlys, making sure their children were involved in their world from a young age was a priority. 

But of course, Byerly Antiques was a business, and Joe and Betsy both gave their all to make it a successful one. Founded by Joe’s parents, Ruth Swicegood Byerly and Odell Sides Byerly in the 1930s, the business went through several locations beginning in Lexington, NC and migrating to Greensboro and High Point. The senior Byerlys leaned toward more ornate antiques while Joe and Betsy specialized in Americana with a focus on sophisticated country furniture made by cabinet makers from the North Carolina and Virginia regions. It should then be no surprise that Joe was a founding member of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, or MESDA, in addition to owning and operating his own business. The furniture of the South was one of his great passions, and over his life his expertise in that area earned him the respect of collectors, academics, and creatives the world over (he was consulted during the filming of several historical films). But Joe certainly didn’t do it alone, his wife Betsy was just as integral to the business as he. Where her father had a keen eye for budding European trends to bring back stateside, and was constantly researching different fields of antiques, sometimes even bringing reference books to the dinner table, Katherine recalls her mother as taking charge of the business’ bookkeeping and advertising, serving as a sort of behind-the-scenes glue for Byerly Antiques.

However, beyond being in charge of a business they both found such joy in, the Byerlys had a simple, yet abiding and intense, passion for the world of antiques as collectors themselves. In possessing any given item of their collection, they saw themselves not as owners of an object, but stewards or caretakers of art and history. They looked to the future and wanted generations to come to be able to find the same joy in beautiful old things that they did. Such was their motivation not only for their involvement with MESDA and efforts to include their children in their passion, but perhaps also for their running the business at all. If a piece entered their shop in need of restoration, the Byerlys made sure it would receive the necessary care. As collectors themselves, whether a prospective buyer was a seasoned veteran or a nervous newcomer, there was always advice and offerings to be found at Byerly Antiques. 

However, beyond being in charge of a business they both found such joy in, the Byerlys had a simple, yet abiding and intense, passion for the world of antiques as collectors themselves. In possessing any given item of their collection, they saw themselves not as owners of an object, but stewards or caretakers of art and history. They looked to the future and wanted generations to come to be able to find the same joy in beautiful old things that they did. Such was their motivation not only for their involvement with MESDA and efforts to include their children in their passion, but perhaps also for their running the business at all. If a piece entered their shop in need of restoration, the Byerlys made sure it would receive the necessary care. As collectors themselves, whether a prospective buyer was a seasoned veteran or a nervous newcomer, there was always advice and offerings to be found at Byerly Antiques.

From the couple’s own collection, Joe had a special regard for the Swisegood corner cupboard (lot 27) in this sale, as his mother was of that same family, as well as the two drawer tavern table (lot 57) that served as the family’s dining table, and a folk art owl attributed to Aaron Mountz (lot 43). Other highlights include an important Virginia Chippendale secretary bookcase (lot 32), a rare Queen Anne cellarette (lot 36), and a rare North Carolina painted blanket chest (lot 22), all of which are MESDA-documented. It is Katherine’s hope that the collectors who buy parts of her parents’ collection experience the same joy of stewardship and appreciation of these storied pieces as they did, and help instill an abiding appreciation for beautiful old things in the generations to come, just as her parents did.