Sworders will disperse the collection of the Cambridge economist Michael George Kuczynski across an extensive series of autumn sales, the auction house announced on October 9. The program is anchored by two large offerings: more than 440 lots in its Asian & Islamic Art auction on November 11 and 12, and over 250 lots in a Books, Manuscripts & Maps timed sale. Further material from the collection will also feature in the Old Master, British & European Art and Fine Interiors sales, reflecting the breadth of his interests as a collector.

Kuczynski, born in Lima on April 29, 1941, died on October 10, 2025 after a short cardiac illness. His father, Max Hans Kuczynski, was a pathologist specializing in tropical diseases who gave up his chair at the University of Berlin as Hitler came to power; his mother, Madeleine Godard, taught literature at the University of Geneva before following him to Peru, where he organized the fight against leprosy in the Amazon region. Educated in Peru and at Rossall School in Lancashire, Kuczynski read physics and mathematics at Cambridge before graduating as an economist. He joined the research department of the International Monetary Fund in 1963 and returned to Cambridge in 1970 as a fellow of Pembroke College and tutor in economics, a post he held until his retirement in 2020, continuing to lecture afterwards. His older brother served as president of Peru from 2016 to 2018.

Away from the lecture hall, Kuczynski was an avid collector of books, Chinese and Japanese ceramics, Indian bronzes and much more. Sworders describes his passion, knowledge and keen eye as the thread connecting the sales, calling the series a remarkable opportunity to explore the wide-ranging interests of a discerning collector.

The consignment shows how regional auction houses increasingly handle internationally flavored single-owner collections. With nearly 700 lots between the two flagship sales alone, the Asian art and books offerings are expected to draw the widest attention, given the scale and the collector's long, deliberate acquisition history.