Bankrupt Lehman Brothers is planning to sell at least $8 million worth of an art collection that once decorated the offices of the 150-year-old investment bank, according to Reuters.

The company has filed court papers seeking authority to pay fees to art handlers who provided warehousing and framing services prior to the bankruptcy. Lehman said it needed to pay the fees so it could access the artwork and show it to potential buyers.

During the prosperous years of the investment banking boom, Lehman Brothers, like many of its peers, amassed a large collection, a trend that has helped to drive up artworks to record highs, adding to the attractions of art as an investment asset in its own right.

About $8 million worth of art is being stored in warehouses in
New York and

Paris, Lehman said. Other pieces of artwork are still located in the company's offices, Reuters said.

Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on 15 September in the largest

US bankruptcy filing in history. Its core
US brokerage business and its

New York headquarters were subsequently purchased by UK bank Barclays.