12/07/2024 Fine Art
Whatever the day or event attended, Eve Clarke (1941-2024) was stately, immaculately dressed, made-up with hair in place, and wearing a selection of favourite jewels – and always with red nail varnish. Gloves could never be worn as they wouldn’t fit over her large rings.
Born the youngest of three during WWII, with two brothers above her, Eve had always been stubborn, determined and used to getting her own way - good traits to have when managing multiple businesses or bidding for a chosen lot. She started work as a medical secretary at Old Addenbrookes and her disposable income went on clothes and accessories. Her later love for the significant collection of dolls, small houses and toys came from a wish to have them as a child, but being unable to do so due to war and their unavailability.
Eve really only wanted to use and be surrounded by antiques. Therefore, modern technology, laptop and mobile phone were used under sufferance. Her electric cooker, aged 65, is young! However, she did recently enjoy a couple of Doll Club meetings on Zoom and accepted that technology was helpful. Collections were collated and displayed in specific rooms. For example, “chapel room” was for religious artwork, icons and altar cloths, etc. Eve had a great eye for decoration, and lots of colour, decorating techniques and the very best fabrics were used throughout her home. Eve loved to buy items with an interesting provenance, the silver-gilt coronet from the Countess of Craven (lot 294) was proudly displayed in the ‘gold’ room.
Cambridgeshire was always home, although with partner Denny (Denys Roland Burgess) they spent a significant amount of time travelling, and from the 1980’s they split their time between the UK and Spain where they ran various businesses. Denny had served as a Lancaster bomber pilot and post-war, he started a garage and taxi business, moving on to dealing in what would be termed now as ‘classic cars’. Sadly, a couple of major fires meant a number of vehicles were lost and the business had to change.
In their early days together, after collecting the takings from the various garages around Cambridge, doing the books and depositing them in the night safe, Eve and Denny would take one of the cars from their collection for a drive to London for dinner and then go to a club. Pictures of these evenings show Eve looking like a model, always glamorous. In days before speed limits, their cars were often raced there or back. They particularly enjoyed fast road journeys in their Daimler Dart (a car also used by the police as their pursuit cars). Once they were stopped by the police, and, instead of being booked for speeding, they ended up discussing the cars with the officer and comparing the latest improvements to get better performance!
Eve & Denny took long trips through the US in the late 70s and early 80s. Their first trip was in an ambulance converted to a mobile home which was broken into, sadly, whilst being shipped back to the UK. Luckily, various items hidden in door panels and under the sofa bed weren’t taken. Denny next converted a coach into “Big Bertha”, with rear section and a ramp for a Mini they could use for sightseeing trips when they parked up. As far as we know, it was never used for a gold heist in Turin(!) although once they were stopped by customs on their way to Spain (where they had a second home) with three pianos and a huge pile of carpets aboard. Officers couldn’t understand why they should need three pianos. Denny pointed to Eve and said one was hers, one his and one was for the friend travelling with them. Customs let them through, muttering “mad, mad English”!
On another trip, this time in South America, they drove into a town square late at night and found a lovely, empty area and parked up - only to be woken in the morning by an irate policeman with a gun. It turned out they had parked in the Mayor’s reserved space, and he wasn’t happy. Some shmoozing by Eve & Denny, once dressed, ended up with them as friends. Eve and Denny competed in the Monte Carlo Rallye on numerous occasions, wining and dining at the best restaurants and hotels. The bumper plates were proudly displayed in Eve’s office along with numerous photographs of the couple and their chosen transport (lot 172).
Eve’s visits to London for sales or exhibitions (the Battersea Decorative Fair was a favourite) had to have a stop at a St Pancras bar, Fortnum & Mason, The Ritz, or similar, for champagne or brandy. These stops may have been before, during or after the event - or all three! Local sales at Cheffins and other auctions would also involve a sustenance stop at a favourite haunt. She would also think nothing of travelling to France in her Range Rover(lot 176) for specialist doll sales. The Rolls Royce Corniche (lot 177) was kept at the house in Fuengirola for occasional jaunts into the hills outside Malaga.
Eve enjoyed being a member of the local History Society, and many other institutions including the Doll Club of Britain. Cheffins will be offering Eve’s doll collection later this year. Widely read, she collected reference books and studied hard before adding to her collections. Sale catalogues were always annotated with comments and observations and auction houses contacted and auctioneers argued with, if she disagreed strongly with descriptions given. At a Cheffins sale after a day of not much success buying against a couple of silver dealers, she was determined to get a covered silver-gilt sugar bowl (lot 141) and just kept out-bidding them. Once it was bought, the dealers asked her what she intended to do with it as she’d been so intent on the purchase; her reply was, “it’s so I can pass around the cocaine after my dinner parties”. Similarly - when asked at the bank why she wanted to withdraw a large amount of cash, the reply was either in very explicit terms, “mind your own business” or, “darling, it's for champagne and caviar”.
Eve’s extensive collection of jewellery and selected silverware will be offered in our Jewellery, Silver and Watches Sale on August 15th.
Her treasured collection of dolls and toys will be sold as part of a timed online auction commencing September 5th and running until September 16th.
Further silverware, by Omar Ramsden, will be offered in the Art & Design sale on October 24th.