The sale of artworks owned by Lehman Brothers before it filed for bankruptcy last year raised $US1.34 million (£815,000) at auction in Philadelphia yesterday – nearly double what had been expected.

All 283 modern artworks that went under the hammer at Freeman’s auction house found a buyer.

A Roy Lichtenstein screen-print of the Statue of Liberty, titled I Love Liberty, sold for $49,000, more than twice its high estimate. At the other end of the scale, Franklin 100, a colour screen print of a $100 bill with gold leaf by artist Tony King that was expected to go for $400 fetched more than ten times that, $4,687.

Georges Schreiber's 1945 view of a sunset over Brooklyn Bridge that once hung in the New York boardroom of Lehman Brothers fetched $20,000 – five times its expected price.

Chester Arnold’s painting of a ransacked office – Lehman’s last purchase last year – went for $4,500.

Around 2,000 collectors, former Lehman staff and art novices keen to pick up a bit of banking history had signed up to bid at the auction. An estimated 400 people bid in person with the rest taking part over the telephone or online.

Freeman's will auction off the next set of Lehman's 650-piece total collection December 6. Money raised from the sale will help repay the Lehman creditors.

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