Sotheby’s Paris raised €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from two live sales of the Manny Davidson collection this week, with a third online sale still ongoing. The collection, spanning nearly 500 lots, included rediscovered Old Masters, 18th-century gold enamel, and an automaton clock by James Cox. Highlights included Michael Sweerts’s *A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test* (1648–52), which sold for €1.6 million, and Joshua Reynolds’s *Self-Portrait, in doctoral robes* (ca. 1770), which fetched €838,200. The evening sale achieved 83% sell-through by lot, with most buyers from Europe and a third from the US.
This sale marks the highest total for a single-owner auction in France this year, underscoring the enduring strength of the European auction market for high-quality private collections. The strong results for rediscovered works, such as the Sweerts and a Rubens head study, highlight continued collector appetite for Old Masters with fresh provenance. The collection’s breadth—from paintings to decorative arts—also demonstrates the market’s ability to absorb diverse categories when anchored by a discerning collector’s eye.