Lehman Bros 'Closing Down' Art Auction

Benefits of global financial collapse: the clearance sale at the end. Investment bank Lehman Brothers (which went bankrupt quite dramatically in 2008) will be auctioning works of art that used to hang in the Canary Wharf office through auction house Christie's in September. Those who were luckier than the Lehman lot and still have cash to splash around, can bid for works by Gary Hume and Lucien Freud, or join the jumble sale in New York where the Lehman Brothers US headquarters will be auctioning their collection - including pieces by Damien Hirst and Gerhard Richter. Slightly more ghoulish items up for sale at the London auction include Lehman Brothers branded cigar boxes and tea caddies but the main item with a high schadenfreude value is the company sign from the Docklands office that will also be on sale. Proceeds will not go towards a new van to take terminally ill children on daytrips: all funds raised will be for repaying the bank's creditors.