The benefits of Wall Street prosperity trickled down to the art world in fairly spectacular fashion during the boom years. The sheer level of acquisition was fairly stunning when you think about it. Lehman Brothers had roughly 650 pieces that graced Lehman offices in Delaware, New York and Boston. Bank of America (BAC) had acquired a large collection, in part through its purchase of MBNA, which was bug owner of Wyeths, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Motherwell, notes Delaware Online.

JP Morgan Chase (JPM), which has a credit card operation in Delaware, has about 30,000 works. European banks likes Royal Bank of Scotland and ING are also massive collectors. "Indeed, some of the financial institutions that were rescued by taxpayers have private collections that museum curators covet--but couldn't possibly afford." But that era of corporate collecting seems to be coming to a close, as all of Lehman's art appears to be destined for the auction block. 

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