Friday, June 11, 2010

Lehman Brothers art collection goes to market


Liquidators of the world's most notorious failed bank have announced that another slice of the Lehman Brothers' art collection will go under the hammer in September at an auction expected to raise $10m. The proceeds will go to creditors who are still owed billions of dollars following the bank's collapse in September 2008.

Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman vice-president whose book A Colossal Failure of Common Sense chronicled the bank's collapse, said Lehman's art was off limits to the vast majority of the bank's workforce. "There was no art on the trading floors - and out of 25,000, very few ever saw the 31st floor," said McDonald who believes senior executives' penchant for art was a result of "becoming consumed with legacy, with power and with projection of power".