Asa And Jean Beckwith:

Scaling Back But Not Slowing Down

Asa And Jean Beckwith:

Scaling Back But Not Slowing Down

SLUG: ASA AND JEAN BECKWITH: SCALING BACK BUT NOT SLOWING DOWN/with cuts

By Laura Beach

PLEASANT VALLEY, N.Y. — Long before the computer science industry gave us the word “multitasking,” Asa Beckwith and his wife, Jean, were defining the term.

An IBM programmer turned antiques dealer, Asa Beckwith is also a blacksmith, Dutchess County Agricultural Society member and museum curator. Jean Beckwith is a dedicated churchwoman, business manager, glass expert, collector and mother.

Many readers know the Beckwiths from the Rhinebeck Antiques Fairs, where for many years they filled their booths with iron for the kitchen and hearth, early tools, china and glass, and a smattering of country furniture. The Beckwiths joined the show when it moved to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds more than 25 years ago.

“The show was about 15 miles from home. Very convenient and always very good,” Asa Beckwith recalls.

Promoter Bruce Garrett says he will miss the Beckwiths, who retired from Rhinebeck after the October 2006 show. “Asa and Jean are from my hometown of Pleasant Valley. I’ve known them a long time,” he says.

Curiosity about antique weapons got Asa Beckwith, who retired from IBM in 1984, into the antiques business.

“I began selling antique weapons — swords, muskets, pistols, and the like — by catalog in 1953,” says the dealer, whose private passion was for Hudson Valley fowlers, “always very scarce.”

The owners of a rambling old house on Route 44, the Beckwiths opened a three-story antiques shop in their home 42 years ago. Buying out local estates, they filled their shop with a general line of merchandise.

“We both like good early American things. Nothing foreign. That covers a lot of ground, of course,” says Jean. “As Dutchess County people, we are especially interested in pottery and coin silver from our area.”

Jean’s growing interest in early American glass led them to participate in several specialty shows, among them the Westchester Glass Show and the Sandwich Glass Show.

Meanwhile, Asa discovered blacksmithing.

“I bought an old school bell from my mother and wanted to install it outside our antiques shop. I needed an iron yoke, so I went down to the Landis Valley Farm Museum to learn blacksmithing. I also took part in workshops at the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and joined several guilds. I thought blacksmithing was pretty neat, so I continued with it,” he says.

The Beckwiths closed their shop six years ago. As Jean explains, “Times have changed. People don’t visit shops the way they used to. They go to group shops or shows. Collectibles are much more popular. We just never got into collectibles.”

On April 20 and 21, the Beckwiths conducted a huge estate sale at their Pleasant Valley property. “Please bring your own boxes and lots of cash,” they told shoppers. They set up a 30-by-30 foot tent and a 12-by-20 foot canopy, and filled Asa’s trailer with treasures. Book sales were especially brisk.

“It was time to downsize,” Jean says.

The couple has no plan to move, or to slow down. This summer, Asa will be busy with Agricultural Society duties at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. Jean has church activities. The Beckwiths want to have another estate sale next fall and Asa looks forward to more blacksmithing.

“It’s all been very interesting,” says the former dealer, for whom multitasking has been the spice of life.