For want of a Swiss Army Knife, Lehman was lost

After months of tense negotiations, Lehman Brother’s Bankruptcy Trustree and Barclays Bank settled a bitter ownership dispute about golf balls.

Bloomberg News reports that thousands of Lehman logo knicknacks were mistakenly transferred to Barclays in the firesale of Lehman’s brokerage unit. They will now be returned to their rightful owner for “liquidation.”

The inventory included:
1,630 Green canvas duffle bags with “Lehman Green Ribbon.”
353 Green compact golf umbrellas.
75 Waterford crystal clocks.
682 White Lehman coffee mugs.
130 Swiss Army pens.
1 English beechwood-lined sterling silver box from 1902.
200 Lehman conference pens.
12 Pairs of Links of London cufflinks.
24 Screwpull corkscrews labeled “LB”.
24 Titleist PRO VI golf balls labeled “LB”.
30 Girl Teddy bears.
18 Large women’s F&G stretch snap shirts
1 Tiffany shooting star.

After surveying this treasure trove, Rocky finally understands why Lehman went down the drain.

No competent management buys Swiss Army Pens. If Dick Fuld had instead bought “One-Handed-Parachutist” Swiss Army Knives, Lehman would still be alive today.

[Disclosure: Rocky owns no Ebay stock, but was briefly tempted to buy some: Most of these knicknacks will find their final resting place in Ebay auctions... probably without any bidders.]