Lehman sells off trinkets on eBay

Roll up, roll up, to assemble your Wall Street Survival Kit, using only the finest memorabilia from the credit crunch's biggest casualty. Spot storms on the horizon with a $20 pair of Lehman Brothers binoculars. Shelter from the storm under a vented umbrella, emblazoned with the Lehman logo and promising to withstand 80mph winds. Finally, clutch, sobbing, a $15 Lehman Brothers teddy bear as the storm washes you away.

In bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers has launched a massive garage sale of the trinkets it produced for staff and clients in happier times, when it was one of Wall Street's most powerful investment banks.

Liquidators are taking the approach that every little helps when it comes to repaying creditors whatever it can of the $250bn they are owed. They have opened up a store on eBay, hawking memorabilia. The items run the gamut from run-of-the-mill – stationery and Lehman bags of all shapes and sizes – to the quite bizarre. A silver-plated baby rattle for $14.99, anyone?

Also on offer, a "handsome" wooden serving tray in Lehman's trademark bottle green, and ties spotted with the letters LEH – the New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol for Lehman shares.

Lehman says it discovered there was public demand for these items when former employees began posting their memorabilia on eBay when the company collapsed last September, the biggest bankruptcy ever in the US. Thousands of items are now being put up for sale to the public, at eBay's Official Lehman Brothers Store, under the slogan "Own a piece of history".

The liquidator is also planning a retail store, located at one of the company's Manhattan offices, so the remaining employees can browse and buy, too – should they wish.