The Bury Family Antique Legacy

By Denise Richer
Many of you will recognize the familiar sign on the main street in
Cazenovia, NY that reads  "AMANDA BURY ANTIQUES." It's a wonderful shop,
with treasures galore. Recently I stopped by Amanda's shop for a very
special visit, today Northeast was going to take a little trip down memory
lane with one of the pioneer's of the famous Route 20 antique dealers, Norma
Bury.
Let me begin by thanking both Norma and her daughter Amanda for a lovely
afternoon visit. They are both very knowledgeable and assertive woman
business owners. They have spanned a couple of generations in their
cumulative business years. So sit back and join us on a journey to revisit
some of Norma's memories of how life was as antique dealer years ago, and
then how her daughter Amanda took that life experience and developed her own
antique business years later.
Years ago, Norma and Richard Bury moved to a farmhouse in the rolling hill
along  Route 20 in central New York. Norma , a graduate of Syracuse
University in Fine Arts, began to teach art in the neighboring schools. She
became interested in antiques when some friends of theirs in Morrisville
showed them that they had furnished their home with antiques.
"We didn't have much money, and it was cheaper to buy antiques. And it was
fun buying old things. I remember the first piece I purchased was a
washstand for $1," Norma says.
It wasn't too long before Norma had been bitten by the antique bug, and
started looking for nice early furniture and good paintings. Her degree in
Fine Arts gave her a great basic knowledge of how to recognize things of
merit. She began her first antique business in Morrisville , NY selling
period American furnishings, folk art and accessories and good quality
artwork.
Now add to this great formula for success, Norma's husband Richard. He likes
to work with wood and is excellent at repair and restoring furniture.
"People would come and ask him to fix things" Norma says. " I remember the
first time someone gave him a good Queen Anne table to repair and when he
took the hammer to it, well, I just about fainted,"she gasped.
But, Richard was very good at woodworking and this along with Norma's eye
for quality period pieces made a formula for success.
"When we started in this business everyone stripped all the pieces to
refinish," Norma tells us.
However, a few of their friends were going against the grain and leaving the
old finish,especially if the particular piece had old paint on it. So the
Bury's started to leave their finds untouched, and they began to get regular
buyers that would drive the Route 20 stretch in search of these early
country pieces and accessories.
"We sold a lot of good early country stuff," says Norma.
She tells us that some of the students would travel up from Cooperstown to
shop with them, and some of these people had gone on to be dealers
themselves, and a few directors of museums. A couple of young boys in
particular used to come and shop at the Bury's shop with their parents,
their names were Keno, and Norma fondly remembers the two young boys asking
a million questions.
"They were insatiable," says Bury.
As we all know that insatiable quest for knowledge of antiques that began
years ago has made the Keno brothers a familiar and popular source for
antique collectors as antique appraisals went to nationwide media of
television.
Norma adds with a smile, "Every time I see them on TV, I do enjoy it."
Most antique dealers today use some form of price guide, and there are price
guides and reference book out there for just about anything you could or
would collect. But when Norma and Dick Bury began their business, there were
no price guides, no appraisal shows, no collector specialty television
programs for them to look to as a guide in pricing their merchandise, or
even identifying them.
"You would buy something, scrape your nerve together and hope for the best,"
Norma says.
Norma and Richard would shop throughout New York state.
"There was a place in Roscoe called Cain's Antiques, and I had to go there
and bring something home, it was always fun,"Norma says.
One of her favorite pieces that she loved was a  tall green apothecary chest
that was painted that they had found in Norwich, NY.
"We had an old creamery building on the property," Norma states, as she
draws a sketch of the cute little building with a crossbuck door and multi
paned window in the front. "We made syrup and moved the creamery building
out near the  highway. People would take bets in the area on what we were
going to sell in the little creamery. Those were fun days."
As you can guess the people who bet that the Bury's would put antiques in
the little creamery by the road were the winners.
Norma was part of a fundraiser in Morrisville years ago to put on an antique
show at the high school. However, this was not what we know today as an
antique show, where dealers come to set up a display to sell things. No,
this show was an exhibit. They charged people  to come in and look at the
antiques.
"It was pure profit," Norma says.
The Bury's did do some traditional antique shows in Dewitt and Sherburne.
They had numerous requests to do many shows but declined as they just didn't
have the time and it was a lot of work to do the shows. Norma mentioned that
their were many people who inspired them as they got their business off to a
start.
"Dorothy Simpson taught us to appreciate 'grungie' finishes and very neat
early pieces," says Norma.
Simpson was one of the people that encouraged them to look for those great
early country pieces that many times had the original paint still intact.
One might have noticed a little girl at Norma Bury's shop. She would have
been sitting on the sofa listening as all this talk about antiques and
finishes and shows and just all kinds of neat wonderful stuff to learn being
the daughter growing up around antique dealers and buyers since she was very
young. Oh yes, you guessed it, that would be Amanda Bury, you know, the one
we mentioned at the beginning of this article who owns the wonderful antique
shop in Cazenovia, NY.
"As a kid, Mom would visit with some people for hours," Amanda remembers.
"We lived out in the boonies."

Amanda's background growing up in an antique business atmosphere influenced
her taste and gave her an appreciation for things from the past. Her prom
gown in high school she tells us, was a gown she made herself from a design
of a gown from 1810. Not many of those at the ball, I bet. Continuing her
appreciation of art and antiques encouraged her to take silversmithing in
high school and create jewelry. Then in 1981 , she took her knowledge and
love of Victorian clothing a step further by opening her vintage clothing
business in Mom's shop. She went to study Fashion design at Cazenovia
college and traveled to London to study the history of costume.
"Textiles are a big interest of mine," says Amanda, "but I loved all kinds
of things."
When she decided to step out on her own in a retail establishment, she found
a place at the Old Mill in town, which is just down the street. She shared a
space with a silversmith, and from that point on steadily grew her business
until her current building became available to her about 20 years ago.
Amanda's love of textiles developed into an antiques retail shop that
specialized in Victorian whites, one of her favorite things, but she has
sinced branched out to encompass a vast array of wonderful antiques to
include jewelry, furnishings and other wonderful accessories. Her shop is a
testimony to her wonderful upbringing in an antique dealer family.
As we wind up our visit, you can see that the Bury's are a family dedicated
to the continuing legacy of bringing quality antiques to the public. I asked
Norma if she is still interested in the retail aspect of the business, and
she says, "I help  Mandy out."
Amanda quickly replies , "Mom would take over the shop for me," explaining
that when business takes her elsewhere she relies on Mom to keep the shop
open at times. But while Amanda probably misses the shop when she has to
travel she certainly feels confident that business will improve when she
adds the statement as she smiles at her Mom,
"Mom is better at selling things than I."
Norma smiles back at her daughter and you just know that this family has a
wonderful bond with each other and with all things of the past.

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