It is amazing what you can find on internet auction house eBay. Cherie Blair likes to buy shoes and London Underground engineers look for spare parts. But the best bargain Backchat has seen for a while is the old Lloyd's building.
The 1958 building was the neo-classical centre of insurance before Sir Richard Rogers built the magnificent steel icon across the road on Lime Street.
After it was demolished last year, a number of artefacts were retrieved and are now being sold on eBay.
They have gone on sale worldwide with a target price of £250,000. Pieces include a massive neoclassical portico with carvings of Lloyd's Lutine Bell, plus 24,000 sq ft of rare Carrara marble panelling from its trading room.
The sellers hope that someone who wishes to build "a palace or leisure development" would be the ideal buyer.
Backchat suggests Lloyd's executives should look at acquiring the artefacts just in case those Leadenhall-friendly wags get their way and vote for the 1986 Lloyd's building to be demolished via Channel 4's "worst building" show (Backchat, 3 March).
