Lehman Bros. Art Auctioned For $1.3 Million

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

When investment banks fail, you might wonder what happens to all the pricey art that decorated the office walls. We're going to find out in our last word in business.

Yesterday, hundreds of paintings that once adorned the walls of Lehman Brothers were sold off at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia. Anne Henry is vice president of Modern & Contemporary Art there.

Ms. ANNE HENRY (Vice President of Modern & Contemporary Art, Freeman's Auction House): These would've been pictures that hung in the employees offices, in their common spaces like board rooms and even cafeterias or staff office rooms. So they would've been very familiar to all of the employees there. And we heard from some of those people, and some of them were bidding today, in fact, on things that used to hang in their offices.

INSKEEP: Nostalgia seems to have paid off. The entire collection sold for about $1.3 million, which is double the original estimate. And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

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